Last week I attended the 20th Symposium of the International Society for Microbial Ecology, ISME20. Aside from presenting recent work on an eco-evolutionary theory of host-microbiome associations that we have developed over the last few years, I had the opportunity to attend many interesting talks showcasing research across topics and research fields.

The conference programme included research from the philosophy of microbial ecology and microbiome manipulation, to the latest advances in mathematical models for microbial ecology and the diversity and distribution of microbes and microbial communities across biomes and environments worldwide.

The poster and welcome mixer sessions also offered opportunities for networking and catching up with old friends and meeting new people. It was great to catch up with Jose, Cristina, Raquel, Sue, Ziggy, Paul, Laura, William, Wahei, Ewa, Mike. ISME is always a nice place to develop new collaborations and find out what people are up to.

   

My talk as part of the Theoretical microbial ecology session was entitled: Coevolutionary drivers of phylosymbiosis and microbiome divergence in host-microbe associations. I discussed our findings on the mechanisms behind the formation of complex microbiomes with heterogeneous compositions of taxa and a high abundance, all driven by the emergence of vertical transmission of microbes from parents to offspring. At the end of the talk, there were many interesting questions and a lot of people keen to discuss ecological theory for microbiomes. It was encouraging to see so many microbial ecologists interested in theory and models and in discussing their empirical systems with theoreticians.

Outside of conference time I had the chance to explore the city of Auckland. It is a very interesting town, with a nice pier and harbour and a nice skyline as well as nice opportunities for bird watching and dining outside. At night, the harbour looks cool with all the lights, which also happened to be the place for the conference party, a nice gathering that showcased a live band and nice food. All in all, quite a fun night!

   

ISME20 also offered extra activities to get to visit New Zealand. We took the time to visit an offshore island in the Hauraki Gulf popular amongst birdwatchers due to the abundance of native species such as Tui, Stitchbird, North Island Saddleback, North Island Kokako, Rifleman, New Zealand Bellbird, and others: Tiritiri matangi island. Thanks Cristina and Jose for the good times! It was nice to catch up again after all these years.

I am thankful to the Leverhulme Trust for supporting my research over the last few years, including attendance to this conference, funded through Research Project Grant RPG-2022-114.