Over the past 4 billion years, microorganisms have contributed to shaping the earth and making it more habitable for higher forms of life. They are remarkable in their metabolic diversity and their ability to harvest energy from oxidation and reduction reactions. Research on these microbiological processes has led to the newly evolving fields of geomicrobiology and biogeochemistry, linking the geosphere and the biosphere.

This volume of the Soil Biology series provides an overview of the biogeochemical processes and the microorganisms involved, with an emphasis on the industrial applications. Topics treated include aspects such as bioremediation of contaminated environments, biomining, biotechnological applications of extremophiles, subsurface petroleum microbiology, enhanced oil recovery using microbes and their products, metal extraction from soil, soil elemental cycling and plant nutrition.

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Nagina Parmar and Ajay Singh: Geobiotechnology.- Nadine Loick and Christopher Weisener: Novel Molecular Tools to Assess Microbial Activity in Contaminated Environments.- Anu Kalia and Vir R. Parshad: Advanced Molecular and Microspectroscopy Toolbox for Deciphering Soil Diazotroph Diversity.- Megha K. Purohit, Vikram H. Raval, Satya P. Singh: Haloalkaliphilic bacteria - Molecular diversity and biotechnological applications.- Asha A. Juwarkar, Rashmi R. Misra and Jitendra K. Sharma: Recent Trends in Bioremediation.- Arvind Sinha, Rajeshwari Sinha and Sunil K. Khare: Heavy Metal Bioremediation and Nanoparticle Synthesis by Metallophiles.- Bernhard Dold: Mineralogical and Geochemical Controls in Biomining and Bioremediation.- Lala Behari Sukla, Sunil Kumar Behera and N. Pradhan: Microbial Recovery of Nickel from Lateritic (Oxidic) Nickel Ore.- Ajay Singh, Jonathan D. Van Hamme, Ramesh C. Kuhad, Nagina Parmar and Owen P. Ward: Subsurface Petroleum Microbiology.- Satyavir S. Sindhu, Priyanka Parmar and Manisha Phour: Nutrient Cycling: Potassium Solubilization by Microorganisms and Improvement of Crop Growth.- Satyavir S. Sindhu, Manisha Phour, Sita Ram Choudhary and Deepika Chaudhary: Phosphorus Cycling: Prospects of using Rhizosphere Microorganisms for Improving Phosphorus Nutrition of Plants.- Ajay Singh, Nagina Parmar and Owen Ward: Biotechnology in Enhanced Petroleum Oil Recovery.- Innocent O. Oboh: The Chemistry of Removal of Inorganic Compounds from the Soil.- Nagina Parmar, Ajay Singh and Hammad Khan: Bioremediation of Contaminated Sites and Aquifers.