Some problems posed by natural environments for monitoring microorganisms -- Sampling sediment and soil: use of coring devices -- Sampling water bodies: tangential flow filtration -- Dielectrophoresis - Flow cytometry and cell sorting: rapid analysis and separation of individual bacterial cells from natural environments -- Magnetic particle-based separation techniques for monitoring bacteria from natural environments -- DNA extraction from natural enviornments -- Automated sequencing of DNA retrieved from environmental samples -- Analysis of DNA sequences -- Fluorescent polymerase chanin reaction/restriction fragment lenght polymorphism monitoring of genes amplified directly from bacterial communities in soils and sediments -- Recovery and analysis of ribosomal RNA sequences from the environment -- Application of denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis to microbial ecology -- Reporter gene expression for monitoring microorganisms -- Characterizing microorganisms in the environment by fatty acid analysis -- Fluorescent in situ hybridization and the analysis of the single cell -- Specific detection, viability assessment, and macromolecular staining of bacteria for flow cytometry -- Confocal laser scanning microscopy of environmental samples -- Monitoring microbial activities using membrane inlet mass spectrometry -- Experimental biofilms and their applications in the study of environmental processes -- Establishment of experimental biofilms using the modified robbins device and flow cells

Clive Edwards and his distinguished panel of researchers bring together a collection of detailed molecular methods for the environmental monitoring of bacterial populations. These state-of-the-art methods include techniques for the recovery of cells, for the analysis of whole cells, and for the molecular study of target species and heterogeneous populations. Many of the methods enable bacteria to be monitored in their natural environments without culturing and specifically address the difficult problem that only a small proportion of bacteria in any ecosystem can be cultured by traditional microbiological methods. Environmental Monitoring of Bacteria takes full advantage of the exciting research in recent years that has challenged some long-held principles of traditional microbiology and gives timely and practical access to techniques that allow the study of bacterial ecology as communities, single cells, or at the molecular level.