A Field Guide to Bacteria

by Betsey Dexter Dyer

"Although most people are aware that bacteria are all around us, few would guess that they produce such distinctive and accessible signs. Whether you're walking on the beach, visiting a zoo or aquarium, buying groceries, looking for fossils, drinking beer, traipsing through a swamp, or cleaning scum from beneath a dripping outdoor faucet, you're surrounded by bacterial field marks. You don't need a laboratory or fancy equipment to find out what kind of bacteria are there―this guide will tell you how."―from the Introduction Bacteria are an integral aspect of every habitat in which they occur and affect the lives of humans, other animals, and plants in many ways. Too often, we equate "bacterium" with "pathogen" and think of bacteria as things to avoid. In a fascinating guide perfect for naturalists, students, teachers, and tourists alike, Betsey Dexter Dyer lets the reader know that it is possible to observe bacteria with all the senses. Many groups of bacteria can be easily identified in the field (or in the refrigerator) without a microscope. Written for curious souls of all ages, A Field Guide to Bacteria opens our eyes―and noses and ears―to this hidden (or neglected) world around us. Useful illustrations, including 120 color photographs, accompany Dyer's lively text throughout.

Genres: Science, Biology, Nonfiction, Nature

366 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Vasha7 · Rating 5 out of 5]

As soon as I first saw this book, I said "That's the best idea ever!" and indeed, reading it has not disappointed me. It's a guide, organized by type of bacteria, to how to recognize their presence around you by macroscopic signs such as colors, slimes, and especially smells. The author is an excellent writer (I also recommend her Tracing the History of Eukaryotic Cells: The Enigmatic Smile ), and this book is just plain entertaining to read from cover to cover. I'll never see my stinky dishwashing sponge the same way again.

[Nick Black · Rating 3 out of 5]

the title is literal -- this is essentially a how-to manual for finding, agitating, culturing, and acquiring samples of various types of bacteria, including macroscopic indicators, (microscope) slide preparation, and safety procedures. each chapter succinctly introduces a type of bacteria, presents its metabolism and physical forms, and provides hypotheses regarding phylogeny/evolution and ecologic role. the writeups were interesting, but too short to be considered a real textbook on bacteriology. if you need to find some halophilic biofilm, or wonder whether the gas bubbling up from your anoxic backyard sludgepool suggests methanogenic archaea, this book is for you. if you just want to learn about our prokaryotic friends, turn to a more general biology text.

[Meredith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recently finished a PhD in microbiology, but my education was focused pretty much exclusively on pathogenic bacteria. Reading this field guide was a refreshing reminder that there are non-pathogenic bacteria to be found just about everywhere. The writing is accessible and engaging. There are often descriptions of how to culture samples acquired in the field, which often had a humorous nature to them which made me smile while reading. Fun facts I learned:

-Gases produced by symbiotic bacteria are part of how lily pads are able to float.
-Often, pock-marks or smoothing of statues/stones are evidence of bacteria at work.
-spirochetes have internal flagella that help them move...fun analogy provided that this would be like a dog having an internal tail to produce wagging.

This book also really makes me want to visit the hot springs at Yellowstone!

[Billy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great pictures. I wish I was nerd enough to understand and pronounce it all. I appreciate the author who gave me a copy on her coachride out. I'd walk the basin with her any day.

[Dalen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not a bacteria expert but I somehow got interested in this book - I don’t even remember how. Parts of it were extremely interesting. Other parts, not so much. But that’s probably because I’m not a bacteria nerd. It was interesting, sometimes scary, often too deep for me.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Would suggest having some previous background knowledge on the subject but nevertheless great field guide. Look forward to using it.

[Kirk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although Betsey Dexter Dyer does tell us how to find bacteria using a microscope, she points out that usually we would be seeing ‘nearly featureless dots and dashes’ (p. 4). Instead, she focuses her Field Guide book on ‘field marks,’ features visible or detectable (smells, sounds, etc) at our macroscopic level, and she tells us in what sorts of habitats we are most likely to find these field marks and their associated bacteria.

Again and again, in the course of explaining different groups of bacteria, she encapsulates key concepts in microbiology.

“We can consider ourselves and all animals (as well as most protists and all fungi and plants) as living field marks of those long-ago alpha proteobacterial symbionts, as those symbionts are now our mitochondria. Our enormous size, extraordinary level of activity (in spite of gravity), and quick muscles and nervous systems are all testament to the efficiency of mitochondria in gathering energy. And just hold your breath for awhile to remind yourself how obligately dependent we are on oxygen — which, although it continues to be a poisonous gas, has been put to excellent use by our symbiotic bacteria.” (Pp 86-7.)

[Eric Bingham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book wasn't quite what I thought it would be, but it was still very interesting, (if a little dry in some parts.) I have come to see bacteria all around me since I finished it, and my wife could not understand why I was so excited when I dug up my pea plants and found, you guessed it, bacterial nodules in the roots! I definitely recommend reading this book to anyone who is planning on making a trip to somewhere that bacteria run rampant (such as Yellowstone National Park or a marsh.) Even if you're not going somewhere like that, this book is a full of great tidbits for any science geek :).

[Debra Daniels-Zeller · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is the kind of book you read slowly, to digest the information, so to speak. The chapter about gram positive bacteria, food and drink,s and symbiotic bacteria assist with food digesting were the most interesting chapters, Chocolate, vanilla, tea and coffee have all been fermented and in Indonesia luwak beans (a variety of coffee) are fermented in the gut of civet cats, proving I guess that people will do anything for a good cup of coffee. Dyer made this the information in this guide intriguing. I feel like a have a better understanding of the variety of bacteria in the world. All I need now is a microscope to look at some.

[Jamie]

Still reading, but some surprisingly humorous quotes are to be found in this book.

Surely the source of iron tools used by dwarves, for example, would have been bacterial bog iron.

and

Culturing hyperthermophiles involves maintaining boiling or near-boiling conditions in a complex medium, devoid of oxygen. This is not a simple amateur activity.

Also learned this astounding fact: There are estimated to be 5x10^30 bacterial cells on Earth! That's

5,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

cells!

[Yates Buckley · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book has you looking around the world to find different kinds of bacteria. Some instructions given on how you can collect samples and even culture some of the species.

I find the book mind changing because I didn’t notice how prevalent bacteria is, and just how visible and how chemically influential.

The actual reading is a bit hard, sometimes slow, sometimes exciting, partly because the book is systematic in going through step by step. Good for later consultation but a bit of a drag while reading.

I wish there were more images of the small guys...

[Kirsten Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

The beginning was full of places you can't collect, like Yellowstone National Park. Later, it is easier to imagine yourself finding these field signs.