Microbial Ecology

Microbial Ecology presents a broad overview of microbial ecology while providing numerous special features to assist students, teachers, and the professional reader. Information boxes in each of the sixteen chapters highlight specific microbial ecology issues of particular interest. Included in the text, also, is a glossary and key words. The book covers a selected reading list for each chapter; a special section in each chapter on "microbial spotlights" that focus on the latest work and findings of scientists from around the world; and exercises that promote critical thinking.

Larry L. Barton studies the physiological activities of environmentally important microorganisms, focusing on energetics of bacterial inorganic metabolism and bacterial bioremediation. Larry has been the instructor of the course in General Microbiology for over 30 years. The author of five previous books, he was the founding editor and the initial editor-in chief of the international journal Anerobe, begun in 1995 and now published by Academic Press. Most recently, he published a college textbook on bacterial physiology.

Diana E. Northup investigates the microorganisms that inhabit caves throughout the world. Her research was featured on the Nova episode, "Mysterious Life of Caves." Within the Department of Biology at UNM, she gives lectures, directs undergraduate students in research, supervises a postdoctoral fellow, and, currently, she is mentoring a doctoral student in microbial ecology of a cave in southern New Mexico.