Fungi are sessile, highly sensitive organisms that actively compete for environmental resources both above and below the ground. They assess their surroundings, estimate how much energy they need for particular goals, and then realise the optimum variant. They take measures to control certain environmental resources. They perceive themselves and can distinguish between ‘self’ and ‘non-self’. They process and evaluate information and then modify their behaviour accordingly. These highly diverse competences show us that this is possible owing to sign(aling)-mediated communication processes within fungal cells (intraorganismic), between the same, related and different fungal species (interorganismic), and between fungi and non-fungal organisms (transorganismic). Intraorganismic communication involves sign-mediated interactions within cells (intracellular) and between cells (intercellular). This is crucial in coordinating growth and development, shape and dynamics. Such communication must function both on the local level and between widely separated mycelium parts. This allows fungi to coordinate appropriate response behaviors in a differentiated manner to their current developmental status and physiological influences.

All coordination between cells, organs, and organisms depends on successful biocommunicative processes. There are abundant cases of communication in the biological world, both within (intraspecific) and between (interspecific) single-cell and multicellular microorganisms and higher animal forms.Split into two parts, this book first looks at the history, development and progress within the field of biocommunication. The second part presents real-life case studies and investigation into examples of biocommunication in the biological world. Among the organisms covered are bacteria, fungi, plants, terrestrial and marine animals, including bonobos, chimpanzees and dolphins, as well as a new theory of communication between parts in developing embryos (cybernetic embryos). Contributions from international experts in the field provide up-to-date research and results, while in depth analysis expands on these findings to pave the way for future discoveries. As the first comprehensive review of its kind, it is perfect for undergraduates, graduates, professionals and researchers in the field of life sciences.

Communication is defined as an interaction between at least two living agents which share a repertoire of signs. These are combined according to syntactic, semantic and context-dependent, pragmatic rules in order to coordinate behavior. This volume deals with the important roles of soil bacteria in parasitic and symbiotic interactions with viruses, plants, animals and fungi. Starting with a general overview of the key levels of communication between bacteria, further reviews examine the various aspects of intracellular as well as intercellular biocommunication between soil microorganisms. This includes the various levels of biocommunication between phages and bacteria, between soil algae and bacteria, and between bacteria, fungi and plants in the rhizosphere, the role of plasmids and transposons, horizontal gene transfer, quorum sensing and quorum quenching, bacterial-host cohabitation, phage-mediated genetic exchange and soil viral ecology.

During the war years, 1944 to 1946, the second author (R.E.) had an unusual opportunity to become familiar with almost all the known thermophilic fungi. He was serving as Microbiologist, with Dr. Paul J. Allen, in the Guayule Rubber Extraction Research Unit of the United States Department of Agriculture at Salinas, California. The Microbiology Laboratory was engaged in a detailed investigation of guayule retting, a process in which the rubber-producing shrub, Parthenium argentatum, wass subjected to microbial action in order to yield a rubber of improved quality.

Archaea represent a third domain of life with unique properties not found in the other domains. Archaea actively compete for environmental resources. They perceive themselves and can distinguish between ‘self’ and ‘non-self’. They process and evaluate available information and then modify their behaviour accordingly. They assess their surroundings, estimate how much energy they need for particular goals, and then realize the optimum variant. These highly diverse competences show us that this is possible owing to sign(aling)- mediated communication processes within archaeal cells (intra-organismic), between the same, related and different archaeal species (interorganismic), and between archaea and nonarchaeal organisms (transorganismic). This is crucial in coordinating growth and development, shape and dynamics. Such communication must function both on the local level and between widely separated colony parts. This allows archaea to coordinate appropriate response behaviors in a differentiated manner to their current developmental status and physiological influences. This book will orientate further investigations on how archaeal ecosphere inhabitants communicate with each other to coordinate their behavioral patterns and whats the role of viruses in this highly dynamic interactional networks.

This book assembles recent research on memory and learning in plants. Organisms that share a capability to store information about experiences in the past have an actively generated background resource on which they can compare and evaluate coming experiences in order to react faster or even better. This is an essential tool for all adaptation purposes. Such memory/learning skills can be found from bacteria up to fungi, animals and plants, although until recently it had been mentioned only as capabilities of higher animals. With the rise of epigenetics the context dependent marking of experiences on the genetic level is an essential perspective to understand memory and learning in organisms. Plants are highly sensitive organisms that actively compete for environmental resources. They assess their surroundings, estimate how much energy they need for particular goals, and then realize the optimum variant. They take measures to control certain environmental resources. They perceive themselves and can distinguish between ‘self’ and ‘non-self’. They process and evaluate information and then modify their behavior accordingly. The book will guide scientists in further investigations on these skills of plant behavior and on how plants mediate signaling processes between themselves and the environment in memory and learning processes.

This book presents a wide range of biotechnological methods for application in soil microbiology analysis, including all essential methods involving molecular biology, immunology, microbiology, and structural biology, such as transcriptome analysis, RNAi technology, molecular matchmaking, RAPD, T-RFLP and FT/MS. The techniques and procedures presented here offer practical guides for immediate use in the laboratory. This volume will be of use both to the first-timer and to the experienced scientist.