The book will provide an update on our understanding of predator-prey through the prism of ecology, physiology, molecular biology, and mathematical modelling. The integration of these different perspectives while focusing on the microbial realm will highlight the importance of scale in ecological interactions, and their importance in applications. This book should thereby contribute to theoretical as well as to applied ecologists and microbiologists. Furthermore, the detailed but amenable chapters could serve as the basis of teaching advanced courses in (microbial) ecology and environmental microbiology.This work is a collection of articles that discuss microbial predation from a variety of perspectives. It provides the readers a concise resource describing factors that are critical for several different predatory microbes, including Myxobacterium spp. and Bdellovibrio-and-like organisms (BALOs), including the mechanisms involved, ecological conditions that adversely impact it and potential applications in aquaculture and bioproduction. The first half of this collection focuses more on ecological aspects of predation, with in-depth discussions on 'wolf pack' predators, the presence and activities of predators in waste-water treatment plants and the role of intraguild predatory relationships, i.e., when two different predators are competing for a single prey but also interact with one another. The reader will gain a deeper understanding of the predatory mechanisms involved and their ecological roles.

This work is written for both experienced researchers already in the field and for young scientists who are captivated by the thought of predation at the microscale and its growing importance within a wide-array of fields. 

Robert J. Mitchell followed his heart and traveled to South Korea, where in 2004 he received his PhD in Environmental Sciences at the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) studying environmental toxicity sensing using bacterial bioreporters. After two post-doctoral fellows studying oral pathogens and fermentations/bioenergy production, first at Harvard University and then at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), respectively, he joined the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology where he has continued to pursue his career as a professor. His lab has meshed all of his previous experiences to delve deeper into the fields of applied microbiology and pathobiotechnlogy, with a heavy emphasis given towards understanding predatory bacteria.