Functions of microbial communities in soils

The full title of the course was "Functions of microbial communities in soils: impact of anthropisation and sustainable use".

The aim of this course was the presentation and discussion of the newly acquired knowledge on the ecology (dynamics and functions) of microbial communities in soils of different use and contamination (forest, agricultural, urban and strongly anthropic e.g. post industrial soils). The lectures, seminars, practical works and discussion concerned the impact of different levels of anthropisation of soils and their sustainable use in relation to environmental and social-economical functions of the soils. They concerned main microbial functions in relation to the different habitats and niches, and also to human activities, and presented new knowledge and major methodological progresses in fields of molecular and immunological research (genomic, proteomic, signalling).

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Morning lectures were followed by practical sessions (field measurements or analysis from pre-installed incubations and demonstration) and visits of experimental and field sites (forest and post industrial soils). The topics focused on the current methodological possibilities in environmental microbiology:

• Nitrogen cycle in soils at different levels of anthropisation
• Redox gradients (from oxic to anoxic)
• Different associations and functions in the rhizosphere
• Transformation of organic substances (natural and from anthropic origin)
• Microbial communities and gene transfer
• Microbial communities at different habitat scales and expressions of functions
• Microbial communities and behaviour of pollutants