In this post, Patrick Baudy reports on his visit at the first international conference on microbial ecotoxicology – the EcotoxicoMic 2017 in Lyon, France.

Me during my talk on fungicide effects in leaf-associated fungal communities (photo by J. Zubrod)

At most ecotoxicology conferences, contributions on microbial ecotoxicology are rather scarce, which is why the EcotoxicoMic, a conference specifically dedicated to this field, was particularly interesting for us. So in late November, Jochen and I traveled to Lyon to present some of our latest research on fungicide effects on leaf-associated microorganisms and bottom-up regulated heterotrophic aquatic systems.

The congress center was surrounded by one of France’s biggest urban parks and the river Rhône. Along with its nice promenade this proved highly suitable for a nightly run after the conference to burn off some of the calories coming along with the tons of delicious pastry available during the coffee breaks :).

The conference itself was rather small with about 150 participants, mainly from academia and government. However, this facilitated a very relaxed atmosphere, while it was possible to have a nice talk to virtually everyone during breaks. As there was always only one session at a time one had the opportunity to see all of the talks related to topics such as biodegradation, ecosystem functions, risk assessment, multiple stress, and trophic interactions.

To sum up, we had interesting conversations, gained new ideas, came up with new questions, and had loads of excellent food. If there will be a second meeting in 2018, count me in!