Our proposal for a special session on ‘microbes and social equity’ has been approved for the Ecology Society of America scientific conference this summer, August 2 – 6, 2021! This year’s meeting will be entirely virtual, allowing us to host panel speakers from various locations. This session requires registration to the ESA meeting.

ESA Special Session 19205: “Microbiomes and Social Equity”

09:30 – 12:30 PST/ 12:30 – 15:30 EST

Microbiomes — environmental, human and other organismal symbionts — are increasingly seen as critical physiological, developmental and ecological mediators within and among living things, and between the latter and our abiotic environments. Therefore, it is no surprise that microbial communities may be altered, depleted or disrupted by social and economic determinants. Social inequality entails concrete alterations and differentiation of microbial communities among social groups, by way of such factors as nutritional access, environmental pollutants or green space availability, often to the detriment of human and ecosystem health. This special session will be organized as a panel discussion with break-out groups in order to provide participants the opportunity to discuss the ways in which social inequity interacts with microbiomes, and how we might intervene as scientists and communities to promote favorable microbiomes while advancing social equality. We hope to generate research questions and actionable items.

Panel speakers: Michael Friedman, Naupaka Zimmerman, Justin Stewart, Monica Trujillo, Sue Ishaq, Sierra Jech, Jennifer Bhatnagar, and Ariangela Kozik