Environmental microbiology

Environmental microbiology is the study of microbes that live in the environment - like in the oceans, soil, air, and inside of plants and animals. Microbes are really tiny organisms that we can't see without a special microscope, so they are hard to study. Environmental microbiologists learn how the microbes interact with each other, how they help us, and how they can cause health problems. They also study how changes in the environment can affect the microbes. For example, when pollutants get into the water, it can change the types of microbes that can survive there.