In the last few years, the research in microbial ecology made a significant step forward. With the occurrence and / or increased availability of modern methods of molecular biology, our knowledge of microorganisms in the environment increased substantially and allowed us to ask questions which were until then impossible to answer. However, the boom of large throughput sequencing methods or the use of sophisticated instruments for proteome analyses resulted mainly in the accumulation of large amounts of data. While this is a significant contribution to our knowledge of microbial biodiversity, the understanding of microbial processes and important environmental factors important for shaping the structure and function of microbial communities advance by far less.

Soil is an important environment studied by microbial ecologists, one of the longest continuous study and in the same time one of the most important. The future of sustainable food production, landscape protection, global change or a the production of renewable natural material that are likely to soon replace fossil fuels is intimately bound with the advancement in understanding soil.

The idea of the conference on Ecology of Soil Microorganisms was planned with the aim to create an environment where the nowadays classical research on microbial communities or (meta)genomes can interact with the current knowledge in other scientific disciplines. Mycology, despite the great achievements of the last years, seems to be still underrepresented in microbial ecology, despite the tremendous importance of fungi in many ecosystems. Biochemistry – and particularly enzymology – is needed to clue out what do the measured rates of microbial processes tell us about the cycling of elements and organic matter as a whole. Ecology of the soil environment should provide us with the framework of further reaching concepts that incorporate not only the diversity of microorganisms, but also their functions and properties of their abiotic environments. We would like to bring all the experts of these disciplines to a meeting where they can present their concepts of soil functioning and benefit from interactions.

1. Microbial Nutrient Cycling and Biogeochemistry
2. Soil Organic Matter Decomposition and Enzymes in the Soil Environment: From Molecules to Communities
3. Fungi in the Soil Microbial Community: Symbioses, Competition, Antagonism
4. Interaction among Micro- and Macroorganisms in Soils
5. Microbes in the Changing Environment: Global Climate Change and Soils under Human Impact
6. Agricultural Soils: Biodiversity and Functioning
7. Microbial Diversity and Processes in Forest Soils
8. Microbial Biodegradation Processes
9. Methods in Soil Microbial Ecology: Challenges and Limitations

Jan Dirk van Elsas, The Netherlands, University of Groningen

Petr Baldrian (Institute of Microbiology, Prague) - head

Tomáš Cajthaml (Institute of Microbiology, Prague)

Alica Chroňáková (Institute of Soil Biology, Ceske Budejovice)
Dana Elhottova (Institute of Soil Biology, Ceske Budejovice)

Jiří Gabriel (Institute of Microbiology, Prague)

Milan Gryndler (Institute of Microbiology, Prague)

Václav Krištůfek (Institute of Soil Biology, Ceske Budejovice)

Markéta Marečková (Research Institute of Crop Production, Prague)

František Nerud (Institute of Microbiology, Prague)

Martin Pospíšek (Charles University, Prague)

Hana Šantrůčková (University of South Bohemia, Ceske Budejovice)

Miloslav Šimek (Institute of Soil Biology, Ceske Budejovice)

Conference fee will cover participation at all sessions, conference materials (book of abstracts), lunches and coffe breaks during conference and welcome reception. Excursions and gala dinner can be booked separately.

Located at info.soilmicrobes.org (active since June 15, 2009) offers already the basic information about the meeting and the possibility of joining the mailing list. As far, about one hundred scientists already expressed their interest in the conference by joining the mailing list.

Wednesday, April 27               Registration

Conference opening

                                               Keynote Lecture

                                               Welcome Reception

Thursday, April 28                   Sessions 1-2

                                               Poster Session I

Friday, April 29                       Sessions 3-4

                                               Excursion

                                               Gala Dinner

Saturday, April 30                   Sessions 5-7

                                               Poster Session II

Sunday, May 1                        Sessions 8-9

                                               Keynote lecture

Closing