We have the pleasure to invite microbial ecologists from all over the world physically together after a slough of pandemic-driven web events! We find this in person scientific networking especially stimulating for constructive discussions and making new connections within our scientific community.

Microbial communities have essential roles in functioning of the biosphere and planetary health. Some form of this statement stands in the beginning of many exciting and modern discovery stories. It is a late trend, despite the fact that on 17th September the fall of 2023 we celebrate 340 years of microbiology during the  International Microorganism Day. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek letters sent to the Royal Society of London included also the first description of aquatic microorganisms. 

Nowadays, we have massive multi-omics datasets and autonomous platforms capturing thousands of high-resolution in situ images of plankton every minute and sending them via satellites to distant servers, where algorithms analyze and organize this photogallery into meaningful data. Important aspect of this incredible progress is that three centuries of microbiology had already passed when scientists were wondering why the numbers of cells from natural environments was several orders of magnitude higher than the count from viable colonies on agar medium, coined “the great plate count anomaly”.

Therefore, we have just managed to peek into this massive black box of microscopic organisms that contribute more than two-thirds of the biomass in the ocean. The challenge now is to translate these datastreams from modern methodologies and classical approaches into comprehensive knowledge of aquatic microbial ecology. There is still much that remains to be discovered and SAME17 seeks to be the spot where latest intriguing results can be shared and discussed. We bring together a wide range of topics that cover different aspects of microbial communities and reach from aspects of ancient past, current processes and future scenarios

SAME17 Organising Committee