Main description:

Conceptual Breakthroughs: Microbial Ecology and Evolution continues the innovative Conceptual Breakthroughs series by providing a comprehensive outline of major breakthroughs for this young and emerging scientific field. The book's chapters cover important theoretical, technical and natural history discoveries that have led to conceptual breakthroughs. This resource offers a concise and accessible analysis of microbiology viewed through an ecological and evolutionary lens. By highlighting and interpreting key publications over the past 50 years, the book provides an important resource for students and researchers as they navigate this fast-moving research area.

The book's authors draw upon literature from diverse ecosystems (such as oceans, soil and humans) and fields of study (microbiology, ecology, evolutionary biology, medical microbiology, molecular biology).

Contents:

1. The rRNA revolution 2. Major natural history discoveries (identification of key lineages and metabolisms that have changed the field's trajectory) 3. Microbial evolution and population genetics 4. Mechanisms of microbial adaptation 5. Microbial community assembly 6. Microbial biogeography 7. Host microbiomes and functioning 8. The role of microbes in biogeochemical cycling 9. Microorganisms and global change