title: Modern microbial seascapes. Forward.
abstract: Marine microbiology is a vital area of biological research that has important implications for the environment, climate change, ecology and biotechnology. Here, Edward DeLong discusses the selection of articles in this Focus issue, in the context of the challenges and opportunities that face microbial oceanographers today.
authors.affiliation: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.e-mail: delong@mit.edu
authors.forename: Edward F
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: DeLong
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000378:metabolism; D018533:Biomass; D017753:Ecosystem; D009791:Oceanography / Q000639:trends; D011157:Population Dynamics; D014871:Water Microbiology