ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the isolation, taxonomic criteria for identification, diversity, secondary metabolites and biological activities of actinomycetes from peat swamp forest soils. Although terrestrial soils are the major habitat of actinomycetes, peat swamp forest soils show the unique habitat and the actinomycete biodiversity remains poorly understood. Actinomycetes are widely distributed in environments especially in terrestrial soils. The population of actinomycetes in soils is intermediate between bacteria and fungi. The incorporating method between flooding the air-dried soil and centrifugation method lead to the selective isolation of zoosporeproducing actinomycetes including Dactylosporangium, Actinoplanes, Catenuloplanes, and Kineospora. In Thailand, there are 25 peat swamp forests where most of them are located in the southern part of the country. In 2004, Thawai isolated many Micromonospora species from peat swamp forest soils collected in Trang, Pattaloong, Yala, and Narathiwat provinces using standard dilution technique plating on starch-casein nitrate agar supplemented with nystatin, novobiocin, and tetracycline.
