Aerobic endospore-forming bacteria are found in soils of all kinds, ranging from acid to alkaline, hot to cold, and fertile to desert. It is well known that endospores confer special properties upon their owners and play dominant parts in their life cycles and dispersal, and much has been written about the spores, genetics, and economic importance of these organisms. Much has also been written about soil ecology, but there is a relative dearth of literature that brings together different aspects of the behaviour and characters of endospore-formers with their contributions to soil ecosystems. This Soil Biology volume fills that gap. Following chapters that describe the current classification of these organisms, that review methods for their detection and for studying their life cycles in soils, and that examine their dispersal, other chapters show that they are active and dynamic members of soil floras that interact widely with other soil inhabitants, with roles in nitrogen fixation, denitrification, and soil remediation.

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Niall Logan & Gillian Halket: Developments in the Taxonomy of Aerobic, Endospore-Forming Bacteria.- Ines Mandic-Mulec and James I. Prosser: Diversity of endospore-forming bacteria in soil: characterization and driving mechanisms.- Paul De Vos: Studying the bacterial diversity of the soil by culture independent approaches.- Berge O., Mavingui P., Heulin T: Exploring diversity of cultivable aerobic endospore-forming bacteria: from pasteurization to procedures without heat-shock selection.- Xiaomin Hu and Jacques Mahillon: Life Cycle and Gene Exchange.- Volker S. Brözel, Yun Luo and Sebastien Vilain: Studying the Life Cycle of Aerobic Endospore-Forming Bacteria in Soil.- Marc Heyndrickx: Dispersal of aerobic endospore-forming bacteria from soil and agricultural activities to food and feed.- Alejandro Pérez-García, Diego Romero, Houda Zeriouh & Antonio de Vicente: Biological control of phytopathogenic fungi by aerobic endospore-formers.- A.H. Bishop: Pasteuria penetrans and its parasitic interaction with plant parasitic nematodes.- Helmut König: Aerobic Endospore-Forming Bacteria and Soil Invertebrates.- Michio Ohba: Bacillus thuringiensis diversity in soil and phylloplane.- Juan Manuel Ruiz-Lozano and Rosario Azcón: Brevibacillus, arbuscular mycorrhizae and remediation of metal toxicity in agricultural soils.- Ibrahim M. Banat and Roger Marchant: Geobacillus activities in soil and oil contamination remediation.- Ines Verbaendert & Paul De Vos : Studying denitrification by aerobic endospore-forming bacteria in soil.- Lucy Seldin: Paenibacillus, **nitrogen fixation and soil fertility.- M. Carmen Márquez, Cristina Sánchez-Porro and Antonio Ventosa: Halophilic and haloalkaliphilic, aerobic endospore-forming bacteria in soil.