Contents
Part I Recognizing the Role of Microorganisms in Our World
1
Our Living World Rests upon a Foundation of Microorganisms:
The Constant Struggle for Habitat and Niche . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3
Christon J. Hurst
2
Darwin’s Science’s Impact on the Evolution of the Microbiological
Sciences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Kenneth M. Noll
3
Microbes and Marine Sediments: A Lifelong Relationship on
Earth’s Biosphere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Jerónimo Pan
4
The Democracy of Dirt: Relating Micro-Scale Dynamics to
Macro-Scale Ecosystem Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Joshua Schimel
Part II Microbial Life Persists Within Even the Most Extreme
Environments
5
The Concept of Evanescent Microbial Ecosystems in Earth’s
Atmosphere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Dale Warren Griffin
6
When the Vital Signs of Microbial Life Go Cold, Does That Mean
the Pulse Is Gone? Microbial Life Persists at the Limits of
Cryoenvironments on Earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Jacqueline Marie Goordial
7
Lithotrophic (“Stone-Eating”) Microbes Provide the Foundation
for Deep Subsurface Ecosystems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Thomas L. Kieft
xvii