Designed for advanced undergraduate students, graduate students, and environmental professionals, this book builds upon the tremendous success of the previous editions with a comprehensive and up-to-date discussion of environmental microbiology as a discipline that has greatly expanded in scope and interest over the past several decades. From terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems to urban and indoor environments, this edition relates environmental microbiology to a variety of life science, ecology, and environmental science topics including biogeochemical cycling, bioremediation, environmental transmission of pathogens, microbial risk assessment, and drinking water treatment and reuse. The final chapter highlights several emerging issues including microbial remediation of marine oil spills, microbial contributions to global warming, impact of climate change on microbial infectious disease, and the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.New chapters on: Microbial Diversity and Interactions in Natural Ecosystems (previous chapter on bacterial diversity expanded to include microbial ecology and interactions)Bioinformation and ‘Omic’ Approaches for Characterization of Environmental MicroorganismsMicrobial Source TrackingLand Application of Organic Residuals: Municipal Biosolids and Animal ManuresRecycled Water Treatment and ReuseGlobal Emerging Microbial Issues in the Anthropocene Era Updates to Other Chapters: Cultural Methods: new cutting-edge approaches for isolating difficult-to-culture microorganismsNucleic Acid-Based Methods: new text and graphics for a variety of methods including microarrays, quantitative PCR, and metagenomics Aquatic Environments: completely revised chapterMicroorganisms and Metal Pollutants: new material on metal speciation and bioremediationMicroorganisms and Organic Pollutants: updated discussion on anaerobic degradation of halogenated compounds and bioaugmentation-based remediation of contaminated groundwaterMicrobial Communication: new sections on bacterial communication with eukaryotic hostsNew graphics, case studies, and information boxes throughout More Features: Introductory chapters provide foundational background in microbiology, microbial environments, and methodologiesPresents state-of-the-art research results with key, recent references to document informationEmphasizes critical information using "Information Boxes" throughoutIncludes real-world case studies to illustrate concepts, along with frequent use of graphics, cartoons and photographsOffers questions at the end of each chapter designed to test key conceptsLecture slides available for instructors online