A group of microbiologists from China, Germany, and additional European countries met in Beijing in September 2007 and held a conference entitled "Microbes and the Environment". The purpose of this conference was to evaluate how microbes (a) shape the planet and (b) might be harnessed to solve environmental problems. This book provides an overview of many of the contributions made during this conference.
We gratefully acknowledge sponsors that provided support for this conference, including the

Section A: Introduction .
Chapter 1 Current and future perspectives on the environmental importance of microorganisms
Harold L. Drake and Shuang-Jiang Liu
Section B: Microbial Cycling of Elements in Diverse Habitats
Chapter 2 Two impossible microbes with global implications: the nitrite-dependent anaerobic oxidation of methane and ammonium
Mike Jetten, Huub Op den Camp, Jan Keltjens and Marc Strous
Chapter 3 Microbial diversity in the deep-sea environments revealed by combined molecular approaches
Xiang Xiao, Fengping Wang and Jun Meng
Chapter 4 Exploring an unknown world: bacteria of the deep biosphere below the seafloor
Heribert Cypionka
Chapter 5 Temperature effects on methanogenic microbial communities
Ralf Conrad
Chapter 6 Microbial diversity under long-term fertilization regimes of Chinese soils
Ji-zheng He
Chapter 7 Functional gene assessment of denitrifying Prokaryotes: implications for understanding the ecology of denitrifiers
Sara Hallin
Chapter 8 Uncultured microorganisms in Hainan mangrove soil: diversity and functiona genes
Kui Hong and Bing Yan
Chapter 9 Acetogens: anaerobic gamblers at the oxic-anoxic interface
Chapter10 phosephorus cycling at water: sediment interface mediated by phosphorussolublizing bacteria
Chapter11 Planktonic bacteria in Chinese and European lakes: are they different:
Chapter12 Phototrophic consortia: model systems for the interaction between nonrelated bacteria
Section C: Bioremediation and Bioaugmentation: Harnessing Microbes
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Index
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