Contents: Preface. Contributors. 1. Human culture and biodiversity: some reflections of their interrelation/A.K. Bhagabati. 2. Air pollution biomonitoring: Lichen as an indicator species/Jayashree Rout. 3. An overview on sericulture biotechnology in India/B.G. Unni, Jyotsana Kumari, Utpala Bora, Barnali Devi and S.B. Wann. 4. Mitigating greenhouse gas effect and stratospheric ozone depletion: approaches based on biotechnology/Alak Kumar Buragohain. 5. Application of DNA fingerprinting for characterization of biodiversity/Anindita Khan, Mhathung Yanthan and Arvind K. Misra. 6. Transgenic technology and its implications in the improvement of crop plants/Lingaraj Sahoo and Siva Kumar Solleti. 7. Biodiversity and application of plant tissue culture in conservation and management of phytodiversity/Padmanabh Dwivedi. 8. Synthetic seeds/P.S. Srivastava and Alka Narula. 9. Pharmacognosy and phytotherapy research/Subhash C. Mandal and S. Mohana Lakhmi. 10. Bioinformatics in biotechnological research/Pramod Tandon and Pallavi Bhattacharjee. 11. Biodiversity informatics/Samiron Phukan. 12. Microbial diversity and bioprospecting/Pranab Goswami. 13. Microbial degradation and bioremediation of nitroaromatic compounds/Debananda Ningthoujam. 14. Microbial metabolism of hydrocarbons and microbial enhanced oil recovery/Manab Deka. 15. Phytoremediation of heavy metals: a new strategy for environmental decontamination/S. Deka. 16. Biopesticides: role in management of phytopathogenic microbes/S.K. Dwivedi and Rajiv D. Dwivedi. 17. Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria: its dual role in growth promotion and disease control of crop plants/B.S. Dileep Kumar, A.K. Mishra and S. Dutta. 18. Traditional fermented foods of Manipur/Ningthoujam Sanjoy Singh, C. Pamei, Eshingchaobi Keisam Chanu and G.A. Shantibala Devi. 19. Waste utilization and production of single cell protein/R. Saravanamuthu. 20. Medical microbial diversity and human health/A.C. Phukan. 21. Bio-energy resource availability, production and utilization-a case for North-East India/D. Deka. 22. Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and their impact on environment and biodiversity/M.C. Kalita and S. Phukan. 23. Organic farming: an overview for sustainable and eco-friendly agriculture/A.C. Deka, M.C. Kalita and Padmanabh Dwivedi. 24. Vermicular biotechnology: an overview/D.P. Singh and V. Dutta. Index.

"The applied aspects of microbiology and biotechnology with reference to environmental issues including biodiversity are now the frontier areas of research focus among researchers. The importance of biodiversity and environmental biotechnology has tremendously increased in recent years. This book will fulfill the need for a one-volume scientific discussion on the major aspects of biodiversity and environmental biotechnology. The book is an attempt to furnish students and teachers the information at one place in consolidated and precise manner, covering tools and techniques involved, figure, illustrations and examples along with research highlights with updated latest references, in order to elucidate topics making the subject more interesting and knowledge-rich. The book embodies twenty four chapters and covers a wide range of topics like phyto-and microbial diversity, medical microbiology, application of plant tissue culture techniques, bioinformatics, bioprospecting and synthetic seed technology, etc. in the study of biodiversity and its management. Further, topics such as transgenics, bioremediation, waste utilization and role of single cell protein, biopesticides, organic farming, scope of genetically modified organisms, biotechnological approach of curbing air pollutants, air pollution monitoring, sericulture, pharmacognosy, characterization of biodiversity through molecular approach, etc. have also been covered in the book."