The "Environmental Microbiology" research group evolved in 1998 from the
former Department of Microbiology. The origin of the latter is obscure. It
is assumed that during the formation of the Center for Biological Research
of Baja California Sur in the late 1970s - early 1980s (the predecessor of
present day CIB), the Department naturally evolved as a general microbiological
department from the few microbiologists who were staff members of that "baby"
research center in the desert, far away from Mexico City. At that time, the
Department was involved in countless research projects, regardless of the
limited number of staff.
In 1990 the Department of Microbiology was re-structured, limiting
the number of research areas to just a few, and made "Plant-microbe interactions"
the focal point of its research. For the next 15 years, emphasis in projects
was shifted from agricultural-microbiology to environmental microbiology
(visit our projects section). In January 1998, the entire departmental structure
of CIB was dissolved by the new administration, and the researchers were
given the freedom either to form a close association among themselves, or
to stay as "individual stars" working alone, a possibility most staff preferred.
One of these few voluntarily associations was the "Environmental Microbiology" Group. In 1999, after several staff shifts, the voluntary group of "Environmental Microbiology" was consolidated. Since 2001, the group agreed to work together on the same objectives and share financial resources and equipment but the group did not have an official facility.
In 2007 after another major restructuring of the administration of CIBNOR, a new form of organization evolved: "Strategic Research Line", each having permanent members, permanent facility and each formally associated to one of the four research theme of the institute. Consequently, the Environmental Microbiology Group officially changed its name to "Strategic Research line # 6- Environmental Microbiology" belonging to the Institutional program of "Environmental Planning and Conservation". Since 2009 the group has six permanent members (researchers and staff) and up to 19 more graduate students, postdocs, sabbatical year visitors and temporal technicians; varied annually