Bringing together the viewpoints of leading experts in taxonomy, ecology and biogeography of different taxa, this book synthesises discussion surrounding the so-called 'everything is everywhere' hypothesis. It addresses the processes that generate spatial patterns of diversity and biogeography in organisms that can potentially be cosmopolitan. The contributors discuss questions such as: are microorganisms (e.g. prokaryotes, protists, algae, yeast and microscopic fungi, plants and animals) really cosmopolitan in their distribution? What are the biological properties that allow such potential distribution? Are there processes that would limit their distribution? Are microorganisms intrinsically different from macroscopic ones? What can microorganisms tell us about the generalities of biogeography? Can they be used for experimental biogeography? Written for graduate students and academic researchers, the book promotes a more complete understanding of the spatial patterns and the general processes in biogeography.

Biogeography is the study of biological patterns and processes on a broad scale--geographically and temporally. The spatial patterns and processes studied are presented from an ecological perspective in this text.

Black & white print. Concepts of Biology is designed for the typical introductory biology course for nonmajors, covering standard scope and sequence requirements. The text includes interesting applications and conveys the major themes of biology, with content that is meaningful and easy to understand. The book is designed to demonstrate biology concepts and to promote scientific literacy.

Microbial Diversity in Hotspots provides an introduction to microbial diversity and microbes in different hotspots and threatened areas. The book gives insights on extremophiles, phyllosphere and rhizosphere, covers fungal diversity, conservation and microbial association, focuses on biodiversity acts and policies, and includes cases studies. Microbes explored are from the coldest to the hottest areas of the world. Although hotspots are zones with extremely high microbiology activities, the knowledge of microbial diversity from these areas is very limited, hence this is a welcome addition to existing resources. - Provides an introduction to microbial biotechnology - Addresses novel approaches to the study of microbial diversity in hotspots - Provides the basics, along with advanced information on microbial diversity - Discusses the techniques used to examine microbial diversity with their applications and respective pros and cons for sustainability - Explores the importance of microbial genomes studies in commercial applications

This volume highlights recent advances that have contributed to our understanding of spatial patterns and scale issues in microbial ecology. The book brings together research conducted at a range of spatial scales (from μm to km) and in a variety of different types of environments. These topics are addressed in a quantitative manner, and a primer on statistical methods is included. In soil ecosystems, both bacteria and fungi are discussed.

Conservation and biodiversity of protists The conservation of biodiversity is not just an issue of plants and vertebrates. It is the scarcely visible invertebrates and myriads of other microscopic organisms that are crucial to the maintenance of ecological processes on which all larger organisms and the composition of the atmosphere ultimately depend. Biodiversity and Conservation endeavours to take an holistic view of biodiversity, and when the opportunity arises to issue collections of papers dealing with too-often neglected groups of organisms. The protists, essentially eukaryotes that cannot be classi?ed in the kingdoms of animals, fungi, or plants, include some of the lea- known groups of organisms on earth. They are generally treated as a separate kingdom, commonly named Protista (or Protoctista) in textbooks, but in reality they are a mixture of organisms with disparate a?nities. Some authors have hypothesized that the numbers of protists are not especially large, and that many have extraordinarily wide distributions. However, the p- ture that unfolds from the latest studies discussed in this issue is di?erent. There are many species with wide ranges, and proportionately more cosmopolitan species than in macroorganism groups, as a result of their long evolutionary histories, but there are also de?nite patterns and geographical restrictions to be found. Further, some protists are linked to host organisms as mutualists or parasites and necessarily con?ned to the distributions of their hosts.

Planktonic protists both produce and consume most of the primary production in the world ocean. They not only play key roles in the oceans but also represent an astounding amount of diversity: ecological morphological and genetic. However, for most taxa their ecology, morphology, phylogeny and biogeography are either poorly known or appear to be largely unrelated to one another; this hinders our understanding of their biology as well as interpretation of emerging genetic data. Tintinnid ciliates represent a singular exception. Compared to nearly all other groups of planktonic protists, there is a very substantial and relatively detailed literature (both modern and historical) on tintinnids. This volume synthesizes knowledge concerning a wide variety of topics ranging from anatomy and systematics, physiology, behavior, ecology (including ecological roles, predators, parasites, biogeography, and cysts) to fossil history. It will appeal to an audience ranging from advanced undergraduates to researchers in the fields of Oceanography, Marine Biology and Microbial Ecology.