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Soil Science
by Qiaoyun Huang
The 4th International Symposium on Interactions of Soil Minerals with Organic Components and Microorganisms (ISMOM2004) was held 20–23 September 2004 at the Huazhong Agricultural University in Wuhan, China. The conference was sponsored by the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS) and IUPAC. The meeting attracted 135 delegates from 21 countries. The theme of ISMOM2004 was the “Environmental Significance of Mineral-Organic Component-Microorganism Interactions in Terrestrial Systems.” The conference program was divided into the following six sessions:
Transformation and Dynamics of Pollutants in Soil Environments
Chemical, Biological and Biochemical Processes in the Rhizosphere
Bioavailability of Metals, Nonmetals and Xenobiotics Immobilized on Soil Components
Distribution and Activity of Biomolecules in Terrestrial Systems
Interactions between Soil Microbial Biomass and Organic Matter/Nutrient Transformations
Impact of Interactions among Soil Mineral Colloids, Organic Matter and Biota on Risk Assessment and Restoration of Terrestrial Ecosystems
All sessions consisted of oral and poster presentations. There were 2 plenary lectures, 9 invited speakers, 36 oral presentations and 45 posters. Nicola Senesi, from the University of Bari, Italy, presented an IUPAC lecture on “Metal-Humic Substance Complexes in Soil.” Pan Ming Huang from the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, gave a plenary lecture on “Physical-Chemical-Biological Interfacial Interactions in Soil Environments.”
The symposium served as a forum for interactions among soil scientists, chemists, geochemists, biologists, microbiologists, mineralogists, ecologists, and environmental scientists. Papers presented at the symposium covered mechanisms of transformations, dynamics and bioavailability of heavy metals, radionuclides, biomolecules and nutrients immobilized on soil minerals, humic substances, mineral-humic complexes, and microorganisms and their impact on plant, animal, and human health.
A selection of the plenary and invited lectures will be published in a special book by Springer-Verlag. Papers from volunteered oral and poster speakers will be published in a special issue of the international journal Geoderma.
The 5th ISMOM conference is planned for Chile in 2008.
Qiaoyun Huang <qyhuang@mail.hzau.edu.cn> is a professor of soil biochemistry at Huazhong Agricultural University in Wuhan, China. Dr. Huang served as the conference chairman for ISMOM 2004.
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