Overview
The field of environmental microbiology addresses one of the world's most important areas of scientific research: the roles that microbes play in all planetary environments. The Manual of Environmental Microbiology is the only book to offer a comprehensive analysis of these critical environments. Thoroughly updated and revised, this third edition assembles in a single volume the most definitive information on microbes in air, water, and soil and their impact on human health and welfare.The book contains black-and-white illustrations.
Synopsis
This manual represents the current state of knowledge in the field of environmental microbiology. The basic principles of environmental microbiology and general analytic methodologies are introduced. The book then details the life course of microorganisms in the environment and describes attempts to eradicate those seen as pathogenic. Core sections are structured with regard to the type of environmental medium being discussed. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Luke Curtis
This is a well-organized collection of 95 chapters on the microbiology of soil, aquatic, airborne, and terrestrial environments as well as biodegradation and public health microbiology written by 136 experts from Europe, Canada, and the United States. This book covers all major areas of environmental microbiology -- air, water, land, soil, etc. The book does not cover clinical treatment of infectious diseases. This book should appeal to a wide range of readers including environmental and occupational health scientists, microbiologists, biochemists, public health professionals, bioremediation and hazardous waste engineers, and MDs dealing with occupational medicine and infectious disease. This manual contains a wealth of current and well-organized information by many respected authors. The references are excellent. Many up-to-date analytic procedures such as PCRs are discussed or referenced in this book. While the figures and tables are of high quality, many of the chapters might have benefited by having more pictures. Some microbiology references emphasize bacteria to the neglect of other microorganisms, but this book provides considerable information about other microorganisms such as fungi, viruses, protozoa, and amoebae in addition to considerable amounts of information on bacteria. In today's' market of expensive technical books, this book is a relative bargain at $98 for 894 fact-filled pages. This book should make an excellent reference for many scientists and health professionals and many scientific and medical libraries. If combined with suitable laboratory work, this book could be an excellent textbook for an environmental microbiology course.
Editorials
From The Critics
Reviewer: J. Thomas Pierce, MBBS PhD(Navy Environmental Health Center)Description: This fourth edition of the American Society for Microbiology-sponsored Manual of Environmental Microbiology is written by more than 120 authors and is encyclopedic in scope.
Purpose: Underlying the fourth edition is the concept of the minimal functional unit of life: whether a living entity should be viewed mostly on its own merits or from the viewpoint of its role in an ecosystem. The authors explore multiple relationships involving members of taxonomic groups as to whether these relationships should be regarded as neutral, positive, or negative with regard to particular involved organisms. Lest this all appear too philosophical, like its antecedent volumes, this edition is still very technical and precise in its delivery of manual-type data.
Audience: This will likely be used as often by biosafety professionals as by those who teach or otherwise work with environmental organisms in research, production, and teaching.
Features: "The basic principles of environmental microbiology (section I) and general analytical methodologies (section II) tend to be common across the range of environments. The balance of the manual is structured into core sections according to the type of environmental medium under discussion. The subject of water, the hydrosphere, has been divided into two sections, one containing chapters which address the fact that water often serves as a vehicle in the transmission of pathogenic microbes (section III) and the other containing chapters on general aquatic ecology. The terrestrial environment of the lithosphere has been divided into soil and plant zone interactions (section V) and the microbiology of subsurface environments and landfills (section VI). While microbes are not known to colonize the atmosphere, air does serve as a vehicle for transport (section VII). Biotransformation and biodegradation are grouped in section VIII. "
Assessment: Those with the inclination to thoroughly explore the biologically philosophical question of "why organisms are where they are when they are there" will develop a considerable appreciation for this book. In fairness, this edition and the previous editions have been definitive references for methodologies pertinent to environmental media (water, air, and food sources of microorganisms). Given the publication of this fourth edition, there is little doubt that there is considerable demand for this material. I loaned this book several times during my review and the comment that I kept getting was, "I used it...I found it useful...important." That about says it!
Luke Curtis
This is a well-organized collection of 95 chapters on the microbiology of soil, aquatic, airborne, and terrestrial environments as well as biodegradation and public health microbiology written by 136 experts from Europe, Canada, and the United States. This book covers all major areas of environmental microbiology -- air, water, land, soil, etc. The book does not cover clinical treatment of infectious diseases. This book should appeal to a wide range of readers including environmental and occupational health scientists, microbiologists, biochemists, public health professionals, bioremediation and hazardous waste engineers, and MDs dealing with occupational medicine and infectious disease. This manual contains a wealth of current and well-organized information by many respected authors. The references are excellent. Many up-to-date analytic procedures such as PCRs are discussed or referenced in this book. While the figures and tables are of high quality, many of the chapters might have benefited by having more pictures. Some microbiology references emphasize bacteria to the neglect of other microorganisms, but this book provides considerable information about other microorganisms such as fungi, viruses, protozoa, and amoebae in addition to considerable amounts of information on bacteria. In today's' market of expensive technical books, this book is a relative bargain at $98 for 894 fact-filled pages. This book should make an excellent reference for many scientists and health professionals and many scientific and medical libraries. If combined with suitable laboratory work, this book could be an excellent textbook for an environmental microbiology course.Booknews
The definitive manual on the subject, organized into eight sections: an introduction to environmental microbiology; general methodology; water microbiology in public health; aquatic environments; soil, rhizosphere, and phyllosphere; subsurface and landfills; aerobiology; and biotransformation and biodegradation. Except for the initial introduction, each section contains between nine and 20 contributions, prepared by specialists in each subfield, and each article is thoroughly referenced. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.4 Stars! from Doody