Microbial Diversity: Form and Function in Prokaryotes

“A thorough read of Microbial Diversity will alter our world view … The fundamental lesson of this book turns our cultural myths inside out … In Ogunseitan’s learned tome the crucial importance of bacterial life to our environment is laid bare at a sobering level of scholarship.”

From the Foreword by Lynn Margulis, University of Massachusetts

Microbial Diversity is an excellent work, dealing well with a paradox that is well known within microbial ecology: we are aware of how much we don't know. The real strength of Ogunseitan's book is that it accounts brilliantly for what we do know. The book reviews diverse fields, from bioinformatics to environmental engineering, and each is dealt with thoroughly and accurately. Few books are available that highlight the importance of microbes in every aspect of global processes; this book is definitely one of them. The text will be ideally suited to both under- and post-graduate students studying microbiology.

Society for General Microbiology

"Microbial Diversity is an excellent introduction to its subject, heralding a revolution now begun in microbiology and ecology."

Edward O. Wilson, University Professor Emeritus, Harvard University

“Microbial Diversity is a text that has been needed for years. The scholarly approach to this exciting and current topic by Oladele Ogunseitan fills a real void in the microbiological literature and will be appreciated by students and professional scientists, both in academia and industry. Get ready for an exciting ride into what most people consider the microbiological unknown.”

Arnold Demain, MIT Rise Fellow, Drew University

“Dramatic advances in molecular biology, bioinformatics, ecology and environmental engineering have left an indelible mark on today’s microbiology. This book utilizes the influx of these fields to guide readers through the most relevant topics of modern microbiology, providing the solid background information needed to appreciate microbial diversity.”

Christoph Tebbe, Federal Agricultural Research Centre and University of Braunschweig

"...a good read, and a thorough itnroduction to a complex topic." Bioscience, December 2005

Ogunseitan aptly conveys the study of microbial diversity as an exciting intersection of molecular biology, biochemistry, ecology, and environmental science. In particular, he highlights the connections between microbial diversity and global environmental processes … The text provides ample inspiration for professors to develop specific topics more thoroughly in the classroom.”
The Quarterly Review of Biology