ABSTRACT
Culturable microorganisms represent only 0.1%–1% of the total microbial diversity of the biosphere (Whitman et al. 1998). This has severely restricted the ability of scientists to study the microbial biodiversity associated with the decomposition of ephemeral resources in the past (Vass 2001). Innovations in technology are bringing in a new analytical depth to the study of microbial ecology. Currently, next-generation sequencing tools allow scientists to sequence and characterize a majority of microbes at the community level directly from the natural environment, thus bypassing the limitations of traditional microbiology and its culture-based techniques. The microbial utilization and interface with insects that occurs during the decay of vertebrate remains is an understudied area of decomposition ecology. Recent metagenomic studies have revealed enormous microbial diversity on carrion and associated insects, including a signicant number of microbes not previously described (Pechal et al. 2014; Zheng et al. 2013). This chapter and Chapter 21 explore the ecology of
CONTENTS
22.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 263 22.2 Sample Processing ................................................................................................................264
