Environmental Microbiology: Introduction and Scope

Environmental microbiology deals with the role of microorganisms in supporting a thriving, viable and inhabitable environment. It helps to figure out the nature and functioning of the microbial population residing in all parts of the biosphere, i.e., air, water, and soil. Microbes are known to affect the environment both negatively and positively, as their contamination may lead to serious health issues on one hand, whereas various welfare activities like degradation of organic material, being a source of nutrients in food chains, recycling of nutrients, and bioremediation of pollutants are also associated with them on the other hand. In a way, their practical importance makes them a special tool in the hands of environment microbiologists to lessen the deleterious impact of different environmental problems. The degradation potential of microbes earns them a place in treating wastewater, containing organic and inorganic impurities being originated in public and industrial arenas whereby minerals, nutrients, and a number of other eco-friendly by-products are also generated. Microbial species like Pseudomonas, Sphingomonas, and Wolinella are few among those species which are commonly engaged in this process of degradation of harmful effluents being continuously added into the environment, thus ensuring the safety and sustenance of the latter. Furthermore, their degradative abilities also help them to effectively confront and conquer the problem of oil spillage in sea waters resulting in less ecological damage. The manipulation of microbes in the present times has gained quite an important place in our lives in which this discipline of environmental microbiology contributes by unraveling all such possibilities of utilizing the microbes to our benefit. The present chapter provides a deep insight into this important branch of microbiology and its scope, which will help better understand its role in other fields such as agriculture, medicine, pharmacy, clinical research, and chemical and water industries.