Microbial Ecology of Lake Plußsee reflects of the current state of techniques and approaches in the field of aquatic microbial ecology and will serve as a model of contemporary research in lake studies. It will be of interest to microbial ecologists, environmental microbiologists, and limnologists. This important case study represents a revision of the field of freshwater microbial ecology and will thus have wide interest to ecologists and microbiologists. It applies biochemical methods to study the microbial communities in a lake ecosystem.