This book presents recent developments in the field of environmental biotechnology. Three major forces are currently driving this discipline: the exploration of microbial diversity by genetic and genomic tools, the ongoing progress in the modelling of various transient phenomena, and environmental biotechnology. This book provides a state-of-art-overview of developments in the field of environmental biotechnology concerning exploration, implementation, modelling, economic development and safety. It comprises selected, peer-reviewed papers that were presented at the European Symposium on Environmental Biotechnology (ESEB) 2004, held in Oostende, Belgium, April 2004.

This book reviews of recent findings on the mitigation of gas emission from landfills and sludge processing. It covers methane and the migration of POPs, heavy metal ions, ammonia and nitrate from landfills to the water-soil system and to the atmosphere. It also discusses strategies for mitigating the impact of pollution on ecosystems. The book contains a selection of papers presented at an International Workshop on Management of Pollutant Emission from Landfills and Sludge, Kazimierz Dolny, Poland. Topics include mitigation of gas emission from landfills, pathway of POPs in waste, wastewater and landfill leachate, and migration of heavy metals from waste disposal sites and sewage sludge.

First published in 1996, this volume has been substantially updated to reflect new research in the conservation of stone monuments, sculpture, and archaeological sites.

Cell immobilisation biotechnology is a multidisciplinary area, shown to have an important impact on many scientific subdisciplines – including biomedicine, pharmacology, cosmetology, food and agricultural sciences, beverage production, industrial waste treatment, analytical applications, biologics production. "Cell Immobilisation Biotechnology" is an outcome of the editors’ intention to collate the extensive and widespread information on fundamental aspects and applications of immobilisation/encapsulation biotechnology into a comprehensive reference work and to provide an overview of the most recent results and developments in this domain. "Cell Immobilisation Biotechnology" is divided into the two book volumes, FOBI 8A and FOBI 8B. The FOBI 8A volume, Fundamentals of Cell Immobilisation Biotechnology, is dedicated to fundamental aspects of cell immobilisation while the present volume, FOBI 8B, Applications of Cell Immobilisation Biotechnology, deals with diverse applications of this technology.

As a spectroscopic method, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) has seen spectacular growth, both as a technique and in its applications. Today's applications of NMR span a wide range of scientific disciplines, from physics to biology to medicine. Each volume of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance comprises a combination of annual and biennial reports which together provide comprehensive coverage of the literature on this topic. This Specialist Periodical Report reflects the growing volume of published work involving NMR techniques and applications, in particular NMR of natural macromolecules, which is covered in two reports: NMR of Proteins and Nucleic Acids; and NMR of Carbohydrates, Lipids and Membranes. For those wanting to become rapidly acquainted with specific areas of NMR, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance provides unrivalled scope of coverage. Seasoned practitioners of NMR will find this an invaluable source of current methods and applications. Specialist Periodical Reports provide systematic and detailed review coverage in major areas of chemical research. Compiled by teams of leading experts in their specialist fields, this series is designed to help the chemistry community keep current with the latest developments in their field. Each volume in the series is published either annually or biennially and is a superb reference point for researchers. www.rsc.org/spr

This publication comprises the presentations made at the NATO Advanced Research Workshop held in Sinaia, Romania 9 – 11 October, 2006. The contributions represent a unique cross section of issues and challenges related to contaminated site management. These range from low cost solutions to petroleum contaminated sites to advances in biological treatment methods. The publication is meant to foster links between groups facing challenges cleaning up contaminated sites.

Biofilms are layered structures of microbial cells and an extracellular matrix of polymeric substances, associated with surfaces and interfaces. Biofilms trap nutrients for growth of the enclosed microbial community and help prevent detachment of cells from surfaces in flowing systems. Phototrophic biofilms can best be defined as surface attached microbial communities mainly driven by light as the energy source with a photosynthesizing component clearly present. Eukaryotic algae and cyanobacteria generate energy and reduce carbon dioxide, providing organic substrates and oxygen. The photosynthetic activity fuels processes and conversions in the total biofilm community, including the heterotrophic fraction. This thesis starts with a brief introduction in the ecology of phototrophic biofilms and discusses their actual and potential applications in wastewater treatment, bioremediation, fish-feed production, biohydrogen production, and soil improvement and their role in biofouling. The next chapter describes the diversity of phototrophic bacteria in hot spring microbial mats found on the east coast of Greenland. In this study we utilized a polyphasic approach using a combination of isolation techniques, microscopic observation of morphological features, and cultivation-independent molecular methods. We observed a relationship between the cyanobacterial community composition and the in situ temperatures of different microbial mat parts. Chapter 4 focuses on the successional changes in community composition of freshwater phototrophic biofilms growing under different light intensities. Our results suggest that surface colonization by heterotrophic pioneers facilitates the development of phototrophic biofilms. In Chapter 5 we compared the community composition of phototrophic biofilms cultivated in three microcosm systems operated under identical conditions but placed in different laboratories. Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis (DGGE) analysis of both 16S and 18S rRNA gene fragments showed that the communities developed differently in terms of species richness and community composition. Chapter 6 demonstrates that nifD gene sequences, coding for a nitrogenase subunit, can be used to detect and identify diazotrophic cyanobacteria in natural communities. PCR products generated using primers homologous to conserved regions in the cyanobacterial nifD genes were subjected to DGGE and clone library analysis in order to determine the genetic diversity of diazotrophic cyanobacteria in environmental samples. In the last chapter we describe the development of PCR primers targeting conserved regions within the cyanobacterial hupS gene family. This gene is involved in the hydrogen metabolism of diazotrophic microorganisms. We analyzed hupS diversity and transcription in cultivated phototrophic biofilms by the direct retrieval and analysis of mRNA that was reverse transcribed, amplified with hupS specific primers, and cloned. Overall, the community composition and species richness of phototrophic biofilms was shown to be highly variable. Cultivation-independent molecular methods proved very useful to study diversity and function in phototrophic biofilms.

The selection of papers in this special issue of WEMS illustrates the various aspects of water and wastewater treatment and management. These papers were presented at the 2nd Young Researchers Conference held on 23-24 April 2004, at the University of Wageningen, The Netherlands. It was organised on behalf of the International Water Association (IWA) and supported by the European Symposium of Environmental Biotechnology (ESEB 2000). The IWA Young Researcher Conferences' mission is to provide young researchers in water and wastewater science, technology and management with a forum to discuss current and future environmental concerns. The conferences aim to confront environmental researchers with technologists and regulatory instances dealing with environmental quality. Moreover, the IWA Young Researchers Conferences address issues related to the development of careers in the water sector.

The book presents the latest research findings and prospects on soil mineral-organic matter-microorganism interactions. It includes topics covering mechanisms of transformations, dynamics and bioavailability of heavy metals, radionuclides, biomolecules and nutrients immobilized on soil minerals, humic substances, mineral-humic complexes and microorganisms and their impact on plant, animal and human health. The book is organized into six parts.