Online Textbook Bacteriology is continuously updated and includes information on Staphylococcus, MRSA, Streptococcus, E. coli, anthrax, cholera, tuberculosis, Lyme disease and other bacterial diseases of humans.
Kenneth Todar is the author of the Online Textbook of Bacteriology and an emeritus lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.WearaMask.org encourages people to wear a FDA approved face mask during the Swine Flu pandemic.
The Online Textbook of Bacteriology is a general and medical microbiology text and includes discussion of staph, MRSA, strep, Anthrax, E. coli, cholera, tuberculosis, Lyme Disease and other bacterial pathogens.
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Tag words:bacteria, microbes, environmental microbiology, nitrogen fixation, nitrogen cycle, autotrophy, lithotroph, anaerobic respiration, decomposition, denitrification, anoxygenic photosynthesis.

Todar's Online Textbook of Bacteriology


Kenneth Todar currently teaches Microbiology 100 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  His main teaching interests include general microbiology, bacterial diversity, microbial ecology and pathogenic bacteriology.

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The Impact of Microbes on the Environment and Human Activities (page 4)

(This chapter has 4 pages)

© 2008 Kenneth Todar, PhD

Microbes Cause Food Spoilage and Decomposition

Microbes are the agents of food spoilage and decomposition of clothing and sheltering materials. The factors that allow microbes to accomplish biodegradation and carbon cycling are at work on everything organic, which includes foods and grains stored in granaries, supermarket or refrigerator, as well as natural structural materials and textiles used for our shelters and clothing. Nothing lasts forever, and the microbial decomposition of everything organic will occur in time. Fungi and bacteria are the major microbial agents of decomposition in aerobic environments. Bacteria take over in environments that lack oxygen.


This section is under revision.


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Kenneth Todar is an emeritus lecturer at University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has taught microbiology to undergraduate students at The University of Texas, University of Alaska and University of Wisconsin since 1969.

© 2008 Kenneth Todar, PhD - Madison, Wisconsin