LAUSR

Microbiology is a young field in the sense that only a limited number of its varieties have been studied. In addition, the concept that microbial assemblages and communities have emergent properties is relatively new, and recently developed methods have the potential to interrogate those entities. This lends great excitement to the future of environmental microbiology. Because of its richness, it is difficult to see precisely where the field is headed, but there are a few developments that seem highly likely to be prominent in environmental microbiology’s future.