Course Concept
	This course is based on the following basic questions which will be addressed in lectures, colloquia and laboratory exercises. We will illustrate the unique features that determine the ecophysiological potential of microbial communities with an ecosystem perspective in mind. "Interactions" will be the overarching theme of this year's course, interactions between microbes, but also between microbes and the abiotic and biotic environmental conditions which define their habitat and between microbes and their animal and plant hosts. Why prokaryotes inhabit every ecosystem What are the necessary physical and chemical conditions that allow for the existence and the broad natural distribution of microbes and what are the features that allow microbes to colonize every livable space on earth ?   How prokaryotes interact with the environment How do prokaryotes sense environmental signals and respond to them in diverse habitats and by what means do they "communicate" with each other, their hosts and the environment ?   Why prokaryotes are metabolically diverse Why do prokaryotes contain the greatest diversity of all living organisms with regard to types of energy metabolisms, catabolic pathways, metabolites and symbiotic relationships; but why do they express a rather low diversity of known biosynthetic processes and shapes ?   Why prokaryotes evolved as specialists Although microbes exist under all kinds of environmental conditions and express broad adaptations to physical and chemical extremes, why did evolution not slowly lead to a single super microbe that possesses all the features necessary to exist everywhere and under all kinds of conditions ?   How prokaryotes can be studied with molecular methods How are molecular and biochemical tools applied for phenotypic and genotypic identification of microbial species and how can they be used for diversity analyses and to evaluate the physiological potential of individual populations and its expression in whole communities ?   How prokaryotes contribute to the evolution of life on earth and possibly on other planets How can the evolution of metabolic traits be linked to the role microbes play as biogeochemical agents in maintaining global physiology and climate and to their potential as pathogens ?   Why prokaryotes offer excellent model systems for biological studies What kind of ecological concepts and generally valid biological principles can be derived from studying the prokaryotic world ?
	microeco