Microbes for the most part have been overlooked in terms of their importance in decomposition ecology and their application waste management and alternate protein production.As you have undoubtedly learned,or will learn,about today,our inability to work with microbes has been limited by technology.In the past,techniques predominately relied on culture-based methods.Present technologies now allow researchers to investigate the microbial diversity associated with a given resource and potentially dissect out its significance in regulating ecosystem function with the goal of harnessing these capabilities and maximizing them in areas such as waste management.