TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - BIOTECHNOLOGY - Preferred Components: The method (M1) further comprises: testing whether the synthetic microbial consortium is able to perform a specific function or process of interest in a culture or in a sample; and testing whether the assembled synthetic consortium is able to convert a carbonaceous substrate into a lower molecular weight product, where the method makes a synthetic consortium capable of converting a carbonaceous substrate into a lower molecular weight product by identifying a synthetic consortium or a group of synthetic consortia that can convert a carbonaceous substrate into a lower molecular weight product. The microbial abundance for each microbe is log transformed. In the method (M1), the step of identifying a group of two microbes comprises a hierarchical cluster analysis of a microbial distribution across the samples, where the hierarchical cluster analysis is performed using a hierarchical clustering algorithm, or a Ward's method. The step of identifying a group of two microbes of the synthetic microbial consortium comprises at least one of: a culture independent molecular survey; deducing from the abundance data in a culture independent survey; or using distance metrics. The culture independent molecular survey comprises counting a number of copies of each distinct 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequence detected from each sample. The correlation analysis is at least one of euclidean distance, Chi square, city block, or ordination method. The ordination method is at least one of principal components analysis, Bray-Curtis, or nonmetric multidimensional scaling. The step of determining the microbial composition and abundance further comprises sequencing of all or a portion of an rRNA gene. The correlation analysis comprises a Pearson correlation. The method (M1) further comprises correlating the synthetic consortium to a biogeochemical process, or a metabolic intermediate or product. The step of assembling the synthetic microbial consortium further comprises cultivating the microbes using different nutrient combinations to obtain single colonies, or cultivating the microbes using anaerobic methods conditions. The method (M1) further comprises constructing a distance matrix. The method (M2) further comprises performing a hierarchical cluster analysis of the correlations. In the method (M2), obtaining microbial cultures of at least two identified microbes further comprises cultivating the microbes using different nutrient combinations to obtain single colonies, or cultivating the microbes using anaerobic methods. Preferred Components: In the method (M1), the two different sources comprises a production water, core, cutting, outcrop sample or enrichment culture. The abundance comprises a nucleic acid, DNA or RNA recorded for each sample. The microbial culture is at least one of a pure culture, nearly pure culture, enrichment culture, or type strain. The environmental parameter comprises a biochemical process, or a metabolic intermediate or product. In the method (M2) at least one sample comprises production water, core, cutting, outcrop sample, or enrichment culture.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Components: At least one source comprises a carbonaceous source or formation, where the carbonaceous source or formation further comprise a coal formation, peat, lignite, bituminous coal, anthracite coal, coal analogue or precursor, heavy oil, asphaltenes, or organic debris. At least one of the medium formulations comprises the carbonaceous substrate. EXAMPLE - No suitable example given.