Bacterial Biogeochemistry

Book excerpt: Bacterial Biogeochemistry, Third Edition focuses on bacterial metabolism and its relevance to the environment, including the decomposition of soil, food chains, nitrogen fixation, assimilation and reduction of carbon nitrogen and sulfur, and microbial symbiosis. The scope of the new edition has broadened to provide a historical perspective, and covers in greater depth topics such as bioenergetic processes, characteristics of microbial communities, spatial heterogeneity, transport mechanisms, microbial biofilms, extreme environments and evolution of biogeochemical cycles. - Provides up-to-date coverage with an enlarged scope, a new historical perspective, and coverage in greater depth of topics of special interest - Covers interactions between microbial processes, atmospheric composition and the earth's greenhouse properties - Completely rewritten to incorporate all the advances and discoveries of the last 20 years such as applications in the exploration for ore deposits and oil and in remediation of environmental pollution