2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. This chapter provides an introduction to environmental microbiology as a discipline. It also illustrates the significance of environmental microbes to our daily lives in terms of not only the overall health of the planet, but also: what infects us; what heals us; what we drink; what we eat; and what we breathe. Following this, a discussion of emerging microbial issues is presented, including detrimental microbial pathogenic outbreaks as well as beneficial microbial bioremediation success stories. Finally are presented some of the latest and most advanced techniques and methodologies that are revolutionizing modern environmental microbiology through state-of-the-art science.
