ESEB 2025 Symposium: 'The contribution of the microbiome to host
adaptation and plasticity' (S07).

The ESEB 2025 Congress will be held at the International Convention
Centre of Barcelona (CCIB) in Barcelona, Spain, from August 17 to 22,2025.

Abstract submission deadline: April 25th 2025 (link below)

We are excited to announce an exciting symposium on the role of
microbiomes in host adaptation and plasticity and we invite you to submit
your abstracts for contributed talks and posters. Organisers are Melissah
Rowe (Netherlands Institute of Ecology), Florent Mazel (University of
Lausanne, Switzerland), and Klara Wanelik (University of Surrey, UK), on
behalf of the ESEB funded STN on Wild Animal Microbiome Evolution (WAME).

Contribution of the microbiome to host adaptation and plasticity

All organisms host microbial communities in and on their bodies. Over
the last 20 years, there has been an explosion in studies characterising
the microbial communities associated with a diversity of host sites
(e.g. gut, skin, rhizosphere) in a wide range of taxa across the animal
and plant kingdoms. Recent studies have shown that these microbiomes
can have major impacts on host biology, including effects on digestion,
development, immunity, and behaviour. Indeed, it is now widely recognized
that microbiomes can play a fundamental role in host ecology and
evolution. However, our understanding of the specific role of microbiomes
in the evolutionary process by which a host becomes better suited to
its environment (i.e. host adaptation) remains relatively limited. Key
examples of microbiome-mediated host adaptation are emerging , but the
critical next step is to broaden our understanding of the contribution
of microbiomes to host adaptation and the role of microbiome-mediated
plasticity in this process.

Our proposed symposium will bring together a diverse group of researchers
working in this rapidly growing and important field. We will showcase
work spanning a wide range of host study systems and including a variety
of theoretical, experimental, and field approaches.

We are pleased to confirm as invited speakers - Dr. Hassan Salem
(Max Planck Institute for Biology Tübingen, Germany) and Dr. Carola
Petersen (Evolutionary Ecology and Genetics, Zoological Institute of
Kiel University, Germany).

For more information and to submit your abstract, please visit:
<https://eseb2025.com/call-for-abstracts/>

We are looking forward to seeing you in Barcelona in August, and hope
that you will consider our symposium for sharing your research on
host-associated microbiomes.

Best Regards,
Melissah Rowe (Netherlands Institute of Ecology)
Florent Mazel (University of Lausanne, Switzerland)
Klara Wanelik (University of Surrey, UK)

Dr. Melissah Rowe
Department of Animal Ecology
Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW)
PO Box 50, 6700 AB Wageningen, The Netherlands
m.rowe@nioo.knaw.nl
(she/her)

"Rowe, Melissah" <M.Rowe@nioo.knaw.nl>

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