The study of Microbial Ecology includes (1) Microbial population and community ecology, (2) Theoretical and mathematical advances in microbial ecology, (3) Microbial drivers of biogeochemical processes, (4) Inter- and intraspecific microbial communication, (5) Tropic interactions with animals and plants, (6) Spanning the spectrum from mutualisms to parasitism and pathogenicity strategies of microbial adaptation, (7) Microbial processes and interactions in extreme or unusual environments and environmental pollution, Functional approaches to studying host-microbe interactions and communication, and (8) Novel molecular and genomics approaches, etc.