Prof. Dr. Lucas J. Stal is a marine microbiologist and retired in 2018 as a professor of the University of Amsterdam and senior scientist of the Netherlands Institute for Sea Research. He is known for his research on marine cyanobacteria and nitrogen fixation. He investigated cyanobacterial blooms as well as marine microbial mats and intertidal diatom communities.

Dr. Mariana Silvia Cretoiu received her education in medical microbiology and microbial ecology at the University of Bucharest (Romania) and specialized in (marine) molecular microbial systems ecology and bioinformatics. She received her PhD from University of Groningen (The Netherlands) searching for novel bacterial chitinases using metagenomics. After, she continued to work on the composition and functionality of freshwater and marine microbiomes and their associated viruses. She is currently working in the private sector applying microbiomes for commercial purposes and is affiliated to the Universityof Utrecht (The Netherlands).

Describes the 'marine microbiome' and its uses in biotechnology

Reviews marine microbial diversity and their habitats

The only scientific book publication on the marine microbiome

Contents:

Introductory chapter

1. A sea of microbes: What's so special about marine microbiology

Lucas J. Stal

PART I: Diversity and Evolution of Marine Microorganisms

2. Survival in a sea of gradients: Bacterial and archaeal foraging in a heterogeneous ocean

Estelle E. Clerc, Jean-Baptiste Raina, François J. Peaudecerf, Justin R. Seymour and Roman Stocker

3. Marine cyanobacteria

Fred Partensky, Wolfgang R. Hess and Laurence Garczarek

4. Marine protists: A hitchhiker's guide to their role in the marine microbiome

Charles Bachy, Elisabeth Hehenberger, Yu-Chen Ling, David M. Needham, Jan Strauss, Susanne Wilken and Alexandra Worden

5. Marine fungi

Gaetan Burgaud, Virginia Edgcomb, Brandon T. Hassett, Abhishek Kumar, Wei Li, Paraskevi Mara, Xuefeng Peng, Aurélie Philippe, Pradeep Phule, Soizic Prado, Maxence Quéméner and Catherine Roullier

6. Marine viruses: agents of chaos, promoters of order

Marcos Mateus

7. Evolutionary genomics of marine bacteria and archaea

Carolina A Martinez-Gutierrez andFrank Aylward

PART II: Marine Habitats

8. Towards a global perspective of the marine microbiome

Silvia Acinas, Marta Sebastián and Isabel Ferrera

9. The pelagic light-dependent microbiome

10. Microbial inhabitants of the dark ocean

Federico Baltar and Gerhard Herndl

11. The subsurface and oceanic crust prokaryotes

Mohamed Jebbar

12. The microbiome of coastal sediments

Graham Underwood, Alex J. Dumbrell, Terry J. McGenity, Boyd A. McKew and Corinne Whitby

13. Symbiosis in the ocean microbiome

Jonathan Zehr and David Caron

14. Marine extreme habitats

Maria Pachiadaki and Virginia Edgcomb

PART III: Marine Microbiome from Genomes to Phenomes: Biogeochemical Cycles, Networks, Fluxes, and Interaction

15. Marine biogeochemical cycles

Samantha Joye, Marshall W. Bowless and Kai Ziervogel

16. A holistic approach for the study of the role of microorganisms in the marine ecosystem

Gerard Muyzer and M. Silvia Cretoiu

17. The hidden treasure: marine microbiome as repository of bioactive compounds

Bathini Thissera,Ahmed M. Sayed, Hossam M. Hassan, Usama R. Abdelmohsen, Rainer Ebel, Marcel Jaspars and Mostafa Rateb

18. Ocean restoration and the strategic plan of the marine microbiome

Marieke Reuver, Jane Maher and Annette M. Wilson