The 13th Annual Meeting of Environmental Microbiology in China was held in Nanjing from Nov 11-14, 2010. This meeting was sponsored by the Chinese Society of Microbiology (CSM) and organized by Nanjing University and Nanjing Agricultural University. There were more than 560 attendees from 25 different provinces in China.

The meeting theme was Microbe and Sustainable Society. About 7 sections were established by focusing on “Microorganisms and Climate Change”, “Microbial Resource and Utilization”, “Environmental Microbiology and Engineering”, Microorganisms and Bioremediation”, “Microorganisms and Lake Eutrophication”, Microorganisms and Low-carbon Society” and “Frontier in Environmental Microbiology.　 There topics were widely discussed by 27 plenary talks and 86 oral presentation in the meeting.

The three academic members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Professors started the opening lectures. Academician Guoping Zhao from the Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences envisioned the genomics era in Environmental Microbiology for future study; Academician Jiuhui Qu from the Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences highlighted the importance of environmental research and techniques for the sustainable development in China, and Academician Nanqi Ren from the Harbin Institute of Technology emphasized the important role of microorganisms on environmental engineering. Professors Changsong Xiao from the CSM chaired the meetings as well as Professor Shunpeng Li from the Nanjing Agricultural University.

The division of Environmental Microbiology Committee of the CSM was co-founded by the Institute of Soil Science of the Chinese Academy of Science and Nanjing University. Professor Zonglian Gu from the Institute of Soil Science was invited for attending the conference as a founder of the Environmental Microbiology Committee as well as Prof. Zhenggao Li. Prof. Gu encouraged young scientist should pay more attention to the innovative research and to develop the new concept by using the state-of-the-art techniques. Dr. Zhongjun Jia from the Institute of Soil Science made a plenary speech about the microbial succession pattern in soils and its consequence on ecosystem functioning. Microorganisms are the heart driving the cycling of key elements on the planet and Microorganisms can also be regarded as the eye by which one could have a clearer understanding of evolution of higher organisms on Earth, said Jia. Human activities are really changing the microbial diversity and ecosystem functioning of nitrification activity in Northwestern China by in situ analysis of microorganism turnover with a massively paralleled sequencing technique. There is no more critical time to understand how microbial community in nature will respond to global problem such as climate change and its consequence on the sustainability of our planet, Jia said.

It was decided that the 14th Annual Meeting of Environmental Microbiology in China will be held in Xiamen in 2011.