Book Review

摘要

Fundamentals of Biofilm Research describes a comprehensive systematic engineering approach to studying biofilms and biofilm processes using conceptual, computational, physical and virtual tools. The book is divided into seven chapters. Chapter 1 outlines a strategy for biofilm research, including a description of methods that can be used to characterize biofilms and their components. The authors define the most basic terms including the following: biofilm, biofilm system, biofilm process, biofilm reactor, biofilm structure and biofilm heterogeneity. They point out that the term biofilm heterogeneity is not self-explanatory. "Biofilm heterogeneity is the extent of non-uniform distribution of any selected component in any of the compartments of the biofilm system, such as distribution of biomass, selected nutrients, selected products of microbial metabolism, or selected groups of microorganisms." The authors acknowledge some controversy in some definitions, but their objective is unambiguous communication with researchers from diverse fields.