1. Developments in the taxonomy of aerobic, endospore-forming bacteria / Niall A. Logan and Gillian Halket -- 2. Diversity of endospore-forming bacteria in soil: characterization and driving mechanisms / Ines Mandic-Mulec and James I. Prosser -- 3. Studying the bacterial diversity of the soil by culture-independent approaches / Paul De Vos -- 4. Exploring diversity of cultivable aerobick endospore-forming bacteria: from pasteurization to procedures without heat-shock selection / O. Berge, P. Mavingui, and T. Heulin -- 5. Life cycle and gene exchange / Xiaomin Hu and Jacques Mahillon -- 6. Studying the life cycle of aerobic endospore-forming bacteria in soil / Volker S Breozel, Yun Luo, and Sebastien Vilain -- 7. Dispersal of aerobic endospore-forming bacteria from soil and agricultural activities to food and feed / Marc Heyndrickx -- 8. Biological control of phytopathogenic fungi by aerobic endospore-formers / Alejandro Paerez-Garcaia, Diego Romero, Houda Zeriouh, and Antonio de Vicente -- 9. Pasteurai penetrans and its parasitic interaction with plant parasitic nematodes / Alistair H. Bishop -- 10. Aerobic endospore-forming bacteria and soil invertebrates / Helmut Keonig -- 11. Bacillus thuringiensis diversity in soil and phylloplane / Michio Ohba -- 12. Brevibacillus, arbuscular mycoorhizae and remediation of metal toxicity in agricultural soils / Juan Manuel Ruiz-Lozano and Rosario Azcaon -- 13. Beobacillus activities in soil and oil contamination remediation / Ibrahim M. Banat and Roger Marchant -- 14. Studying denitrification by aerobic endospore-forming bacteria in soil / Ines Verbaendert and Paul De Vos -- 15. Paenibacillus, nitrogen fixation and soil fertility / Lucy Seldin -- 16. Halophilic and haloalkalilphilic, aerobic endospore-forming bacteria in soil / M. Carmen Maarquez, Cristina, Saanchez-Porro, and Antonio ventosa.