ISME-10 marks 30 years of international symposia organized by the International Society for Microbial Ecology. This is an important milestone in the development of our scientific field, from a handful of mainly general microbiologists with an ecological vision meeting in New Zealand in 1977, to a well-developed discipline focused on studying microorganisms in their environment. The fact that Earth is a microbial planet has become widely appreciated in the last few years and will serve as the central theme at ISME-10. Microorganisms were responsible for establishing our biosphere and they turn the wheels of the planet. Microorganisms may maintain our biosphere also in the future provided we understand how they respond to the changing environment.

ISME-10 will address microbial interactions from the depths of the subsurface to space. Microbial ecology is an interdisciplinary science which promotes an understanding of microbial interactions among members of microbial communities as well as the interactions of the microbial community with its environment. New concepts of microbial communications between microorganisms as well as with higher organisms have recently emerged and will be discussed at ISME-10.

The international symposia on microbial ecology have a pivotal role in providing an exciting meeting ground for microbial ecologists covering all aspects in microbial ecology. Many of the well-established microbial ecologists had their first international exposure in previous ISME meetings and cherish those meetings to be highly important in their scientific career. ISME-10 will allow you to learn of the most recent developments in your research field, as well as to meet the scientists behind current findings in related fields to your research, all within the broad scope of microbial ecology. Finally but not less importantly, we can all meet old friends and make new friends in the relaxed and informal setting of the Caribbean Cancun, Mexico.