The term “microbial ecology”is now used in a general way to describe the presence and contributions of microorganisms, through their activities, to the places where they are found. Students of microbiology should be aware that much of the information on microbial presence and contributions to soils, waters, and associations with plants, now described by this term, would have been considered as “environmental microbiology” in the past. Thomas D. Brock, the discoverer of Thermus aquaticus, which is known the world over as the source of Taq polymerase for the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), has given a definition of microbial ecology that may be useful: “Microbial ecology is the study of the behavior and activities of microorganisms in their natural environments.” The important operator in this sentence is their environment instead of the environment. To emphasize this point, Brock has noted that “microbes are small; their environments also are small.” In these small environments or “microenvironments,” other kinds of microorganisms (and macroorganisms) often also are present, a critical point that was emphasized by Sergei Winogradsky in 1947. Environmental microbiology, in comparison, relates primarily to all-over microbial processes that occur in a soil, water, or food, as examples. It is not concerned with the particular “microenvironment” where the microorganisms actually are functioning, but with the broader-scale effects of microbial presence and activities. One can study these microbially mediated processes and their possible global impacts at the scale of “environmental microbiology” without knowing about the specific microenvironment (and the organisms functioning there) where these processes actually take place. However, it is critical to be aware that microbes function in their localized environments and affect ecosystems at greater scales, including causing global-level effects. In the last decades the term “microbial ecology” largely has lost its original meaning, and recently the statement has been made that “microbial ecology has become a ‘catch-all’ term.” As you read various textbooks and scientific papers, possible differences between “microbial ecology” and “environmental microbiology” should be kept in mind.Microbial Ecology
The term “microbial ecology”is now used in a general way to describe the presence and contributions of microorganisms, through their activities, to the places where they are found. Students of microbiology should be aware that much of the information on microbial presence and contributions to soils, waters, and associations with plants, now described by this term, would have been considered as “environmental microbiology” in the past. Thomas D. Brock, the discoverer of Thermus aquaticus, which is known the world over as the source of Taq polymerase for the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), has given a definition of microbial ecology that may be useful: “Microbial ecology is the study of the behavior and activities of microorganisms in their natural environments.” The important operator in this sentence is their environment instead of the environment. To emphasize this point, Brock has noted that “microbes are small; their environments also are small.” In these small environments or “microenvironments,” other kinds of microorganisms (and macroorganisms) often also are present, a critical point that was emphasized by Sergei Winogradsky in 1947. Environmental microbiology, in comparison, relates primarily to all-over microbial processes that occur in a soil, water, or food, as examples. It is not concerned with the particular “microenvironment” where the microorganisms actually are functioning, but with the broader-scale effects of microbial presence and activities. One can study these microbially mediated processes and their possible global impacts at the scale of “environmental microbiology” without knowing about the specific microenvironment (and the organisms functioning there) where these processes actually take place. However, it is critical to be aware that microbes function in their localized environments and affect ecosystems at greater scales, including causing global-level effects. In the last decades the term “microbial ecology” largely has lost its original meaning, and recently the statement has been made that “microbial ecology has become a ‘catch-all’ term.” As you read various textbooks and scientific papers, possible differences between “microbial ecology” and “environmental microbiology” should be kept in mind.
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