The International Symposium of Molecular Environmental Soil Science at the Interfaces in
the Earth's Critical Zone (ISMESS 2009) was successfully held during 10–14 October 2009
at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China. Two hundred sixty-six participants from 21
countries attended the symposium. The scientific program featured 2 plenary lecturers, 19
invited lecturers, 29 oral presentations, and 65 poster presentations. The five main sessions
were included in the symposium:(1) The role of mineral colloids in carbon turnover and …

Chemical, biological, physical, and geological processes operate together to support life at
the Earth's surface for sustainability. Advances on the frontiers of knowledge on this subject
matter require scientists to cross disciplines and scales to integrate understanding of the
processes ranging in scale from the environmental mineralorganism-humus-water-air
interfaces to the impact on the globe and humankind. However, there are great knowledge
gaps on how and to what extent the processes, especially in the rhizosphere, are affected by …