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.

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 functional

     genes

     Kui Hong and Bing Yan

Chapter 9   Acetogens: anaerobic gamblers at the oxic-anoxic interface

     Harold L. Drake and Anita S. Goflner

Chapter 10  Phosphorus cycling at water: sediment interface mediated by phosphorus-

     solublizing bacteria

     Hong-Li Yuan and Jian-Hang Qu

Chapter 11  Planktonic bacteria in Chinese and European lakes: are they different?

     Martin W. Hahn and Qinglong L. Wu

Chapter 12  Phototrophic consortia: model systems for the interaction between nonrelated

     bacteria

     Jorg Overmann

Section C:  Bioremediation and Bioaugmentation: Harnessing Microbes

Chapter 13  Microbial degradation of carbazole and dibenzofuran by Genus Sphingomonas:

     perspective and challenge

     Ping Xu, Zhonghui Gai Bo Yu and Cuiqing Ma

Chapter 14  Microbiology and application of biological sulfate reduction

     Alfons J. M. Stares, Piet N. L. Lens, Cees J. N. Buisman, Albert J. H. Janssen

     and Gerard Muyzer

Chapter 15  Effect of oil contamination and bioremediation on bacterial communities in

     polar sea-ice environments

     Elisabeth Helmke and Birte Gerdes

Chapter 16  Diverse strategies of polychlorophenol degradation by microorganisms

     Luying Xun

Chapter 17  Microbial iron oxidation and the degradation of persistent organic pollutants

     Ulrich Szewzyk, Songyan Qin, Burga Braun, Oliver Thronicker, Uta Bockelmann

     and Martin Meixner

Chapter 18  Effect of metal-reducing microorganisms on element fluxes in a former

     uranium-mining district

     Kirsten Kiisel, Eva-Maria Burkhardt and Jana Sitte

Chapter 19  Reductive dehalogenation of chlorinated aromatic compounds by anaerobic

     bacteria

     Ute Lechner and Anke Wagner

Chapter 20  Degradation and assimilation of aromatic compounds by Corynebacterium

     glutamicum

     Shuang-Jiang Liu and Muhammad Tausif Chaudhry

Chapter 21  Host-vector systems for hyperthermophilic archaeon Sulfolobus

     Qunxin She, Ling Deng, Haojun Zhu, Maria Dreibrol, Mariana Awayez

     and Yunxiang Liang

Index