Soil can be seen as an important and delicate interface between the biosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere and lithosphere. Biogeochemical processes occurring at this interface are crucial for maintaining soil ecosystem function, plant productivity and water quality. Aside from controlling the fate of pollutants, this interface plays a key role in the biogeochemical cycles and thus has a role in soils acting as a source or sink of greenhouse gases.

With this in mind, we decided to organize the 8th International Symposium on Interactions of Soil Minerals with Organic Components and Microorganisms (ISMOM 2019), with the focus on “Understanding Soil Interfacial Reactions for Sustainable Soil Management and Climatic Change Mitigation”. This meeting took place in Seville, Spain, during 23–28 June 2019, and was organized by Heike Knicker and Francisco J. González‐Vila from the IRNAS‐CSIC, Seville, as a part of the interCongress series of international symposia of Commission 2.5 (Soil chemical, physical and biological interfacial reactions) of the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS).

During the meeting, we had the pleasure of presenting the contributions of 170 participants from 33 countries. In total, 185 abstracts were submitted, of which 157 were finally presented as plenary (two), keynote (five) or oral (54) talks along with 96 posters. The number, diversity and quality of the submitted abstracts, as well as the excellent work of the scientific committee, provided an interesting and well‐balanced scientific programme. The contributions were presented during the following six sessions.

In order to increase the visibility of posters, a part of the time for the poster session was dedicated to a “pico‐session” during which poster presenters had a maximum of 2 min to advertise their work. This offer was well appreciated both by presenters, in particular by young researchers, and interested participants and greatly stimulated the following discussions at the poster boards. Considerable time for discussion and remaining questions was also provided after each session, an offer that was also well accepted by the audience.

A special highlight was the Dr P.M. Huang Prize awarded to Dr. Rota Wagai from the National Institute for Agro‐Environmental Sciences, NIAES, Japan, for his outstanding and unique contributions to our understanding of the interaction of organic matter, minerals and microorganisms in the soil.

Generous sponsorship from the IUSS Stimulus Fund, Commission 2.5 of the IUSS, the International Humic Substance Society (IHSS) and the University of Seville allowed travel grants to be awarded to young scientists and scientists from under‐funded countries, in addition to keynote speakers. The support by the IRNAS‐CSIC, as well as the sponsoring by Agrana AG, Bruker BioSpin GmbH, Analisis Vinicos, Abogase Legal SI and AMC Chemical & TRICHODEX, contributed to successfully providing this international platform for fruitful discussions between scientists and students from soil sciences, chemistry, biology, biochemistry, physics, ecology or environmental sciences.

The papers collected together in this special issue of the European Journal of Soil Science reflect the diversity of communications at the conference. The following special issue contains a small collection of 14 papers based on presentations made at the meeting. As part of the section Soil as a C and N sink, the contribution of Briedis et al. (2021) describes a study dealing with the effects of land‐use types (native vegetation [NV] vs. no‐till system [NT]) on organic carbon (OC) stocks and on the chemical composition of organic matter (OM), seeking a better understanding of the OC build‐up in no‐till areas and the mechanisms that govern OC protection in highly weathered soils in Brazil. Applying solid‐state ¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopic analyses in soils fractionated into coarse and fine fractions by sieving, they concluded that “maintaining continuous NT is a sine qua non condition” to improve SOM contents. They confirmed further that the interactions of labile compounds with soil minerals can be seen as the driving factor for OM protection in soil.

The article by Cissé, van Oort, Chenu, Essi, and Staunton (2021) shifts the focus to the soil organic nitrogen fraction and investigates the relative enrichment of SOM in the operationally defined fraction, glomalin‐related soil protein. This study relied on the “42‐Plots” long‐term bare fallow trial in Versailles, France, and challenged hypotheses on the fungal origin and intrinsic stability of this fraction. It was concluded that GRSP is continually produced by the recycling of soil organic matter, with no evidence that it is of predominantly arbuscular fungal origin. Soil pH and availability of sources of N contributed to the complex balance between protein synthesis and accumulation.

The work by Le Bayon et al. (2021) introduced the use of X‐ray microcomputed tomography for characterizing earthworm‐derived belowground soil aggregates. It was presented in the section dedicated to New physical, chemical and biological analytical approaches. The calculation of density and size (down to 30 μm) allowed the authors to distinguish mineral and light organic and void spaces, and to compare pore size distribution in soils after the action of different earthworms. This major advance opens exciting possibilities for the study of organo‐mineral interfaces.

A more pedogenesis‐related approach is presented by Pospíšilová and her coworkers (Pospíšilová et al., 2021). Applying X‐ray diffraction (XRD) on the fine earth and clay fractions of soils from the Litovelské Pomoraví (Czech Republic), they identified hydroxy‐interlayered vermiculites (HIV). Such minerals appear not to have been found in Bohemian and Moravian loess before. Based on their findings, they concluded that HIV and even vermiculite are pedogenic clay minerals.

The paper by Wu, Wu, Huang, and Cai (2021) demonstrates how the interaction with mineral or organo‐mineral surfaces may have an important impact on molecular reactions. This study reports that one mineral in particular, birnessite, facilitates the conjugate transfer of plasmids and may initiate the formation of intracellular reactive oxygen species. Clay minerals may contribute to the global dissemination of antimicrobial resistance.

The goal of the session Ecological disturbances was to present some new insights on the impact of (mis)management of soils or natural disasters and how they affect the interplay between soil minerals, SOM and microorganisms. Towards this goal, Escobar Ortega, Aguilar Vásquez, Ávila Alba, and García de Salamone (2021) evaluated the impact on the rhizosphere microbial communities of inclusion of cover crops in succession with soybean and plant growth‐promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) inoculation. The underlying assumption of this work is that the inclusion of cover crops adds, through the input of crop residues to the soil, to the preservation of soil quality. However, using glyphosate to interrupt the growth of the cover crop is supposed to have a negative impact on the microbial rhizosphere communities that should be better understood. Therefore, they assessed whether the inoculation of two cover crops with A. brasilense and P. fluorescens, their growth interruption with glyphosate and the fertilization of cover crops at sowing, modify the functional and structural diversity of rhizosphere microbial communities.

The study of the response of the microbial communities to changing management practices was also the objective of the work by Navas, Martín‐Lammerding, Hontoria, Ulcuango, and Mariscal‐Sancho (2021). They hypothesized that tillage type affects the abundance and size of macroaggregates, which in turn changes the microenvironment and the total abundances of fungi and bacteria within them. Evaluating the total abundance of bacteria (based on 16S rRNA analysis) and fungi (based on internal transcribed spacer analysis) inhabiting each aggregate fraction, they found that bacteria and fungi respond differently to changes in the distribution of aggregates induced by management practices. They further observed that in contrast to the fungal abundance, the distribution of bacteria in the aggregates was closely related to C and N concentrations.

Another paper from Navas, Pérez‐Esteban, Torres, Hontoria, and Moliner (2021) investigated microbial communities along a gradient of metal contamination in a former copper mining area. Their underlying objective is to identify and exploit the metal resistance properties of microorganisms to use as biofertilizers to improve the efficiency of phytoremediation. Marked differences in abundances of species were observed along the contamination gradient and metal‐resistant genes were identified. Contaminated soils may be an important reservoir for useful microorganisms, notably Bradyrhizobium diazoefficiens and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, capable of both resisting large metal contents and also improving nutrient availability.

Studying the fate of pollutants in soils is strongly associated with the study and understanding of their sorption behaviour. In line with this and within the fourth session Dynamics of pollutants at soil interfaces, Mikhail Borisover (2021) introduced a new approach to quantify sorption–desorption hysteresis using single‐point desorption isotherms in liquid‐phase sorption experiments in terms of the Gibbs free energy of non‐relaxed states.

The study by Evans and Jacobs (2021) investigates the complexity of tertiary anion exchange reactions in soils from different horizons of alpine tundra soils in order to assess their impact on aluminium biogeochemistry. A combination of batch and column experimental approaches was used to follow oxalate/hydroxide/fluoride exchange along with aluminium solubilization.

In recent years, concerns about the application of glyphosate have considerably increased. As a consequence, the behaviour of this widely used herbicide in soils has also been an issue discussed at the ISMOM after the presentation of Galicia‐Andrés, Tunega, Gerzabek, and Oostenbrink (2021), who investigate the molecular basis of the interactions between glyphosate and kaolinite, a clay mineral with high abundances in subtropical and tropical soils. Applying force‐field molecular dynamics simulation together with first principle calculations using a density functional theory‐based approach, they were in particular interested in the role of H‐bond formation as the precursor stage. They confirmed that kaolinite has an important contribution to the overall adsorption capacity of soils for glyphosate, specifically in its anionic form.

Another study of an agrochemical was presented in the session dedicated to Soil amendments; the contribution of Aldana, Hazlerigg, Lopez‐Capel, and Werner (2021) presents results of batch studies in which the sorption and retention of atrazine, diuron, enrofloxacin, oxytetracycline and biochar applied in different doses to tropical soils with different texture was investigated. They identified rice husk biochar as an amendment that can efficiently reduce the leaching of the selected agrochemicals. However, because changes in soil properties due to the amendment may inadvertently lead to increased leaching, the authors conclude that the implementation of this approach should be conducted carefully and that field studies evaluating the long‐term effects of biochar‐amended soils on the fate of agrochemicals are still needed.

Leiva‐Suárez et al. (2021) suggested the use of biochar, rich in nitrogen, as a slow‐release fertilizer, and studied the long‐term availability of N and P in sewage sludge‐derived hydrochars and pyrochars during a second cropping period. They prepared a soil that was previously amended with ¹³C‐ and ¹⁵N‐enriched hydrochars and pyrochars and was subjected to a first cropping period. After a second cropping period with Lolium perenne, the distribution of the isotopic labels between crop and soil was monitored. Hydrochars were identified as good candidates for long‐term fertilization and all amendments were reported to have comparable turnover rates in the long term, independently of their aromaticity and the native SOM.

In another work presented in the session Nutrient availability in soils, Liu et al. (2021) tested the hypothesis that the efficiency of nitrification inhibitors can be increased by enhancing the nitrogen application rate. To test the hypothesis, field experiments with different N fertilization rates and the addition of nitrification inhibitor 3,4‐dimethylpyrazole phosphate (DMPP) were conducted and the respective efficacy of DMPP addition in reducing soil N₂O emissions was determined. They suggest that ammonia‐oxidizing bacteria could be the dominant N₂O emission contributors in nitrogen‐treated soils. They further reported that DMPP was more efficient at high nitrogen rates and concluded that DMPP application can be an efficient strategy to mitigate environmental risks related to N₂O emissions from soils.

We would like to thank EJSS for providing the opportunity for this special issue and acknowledge the great help and support of the Editor in Chief Professor Jennifer Dungait and the EJSS publication staff. Finally, we wish to thank the contributing authors and offer our sincere gratitude to all the reviewers, without whom this special issue could not have been completed. Last but not least, we thank all the participants of the 8th ISMOM for their activity, which turned the meeting into a lively and successful event. We are looking forward to continuing the discussions and interactions initiated at this meeting at the 9th ISMOM in 2024.

土壤可以看作是生物圈，水圈，大气层和岩石圈之间重要而脆弱的界面。在此界面发生的生物地球化学过程对于维持土壤生态系统功能，植物生产力和水质至关重要。除了控制污染物的归宿外，该界面在生物地球化学循环中也起着关键作用，因此在土壤中起着温室气体的源或汇的作用。

考虑到这一点，我们决定组织第八届国际土壤矿物与有机成分和微生物相互作用的专题讨论会（ISMOM 2019），重点是“了解土壤界面反应对可持续土壤管理和缓解气候变化的影响”。该会议于2019年6月23日至28日在西班牙塞维利亚举行，由塞维利亚IRNAS-CSIC的Heike Knicker和FranciscoJ.González-Vila举办，是委员会2.5国际大会国际会议系列会议的一部分国际土壤科学联盟（IUSS）的（土壤化学，物理和生物界面反应）。

在会议期间，我们很高兴介绍来自33个国家的170名与会者的贡献。总共提交了185个摘要，其中157个最终以全会（两个），主旨演讲（五个）或口头演讲（54个）的形式进行了演讲，并发布了96张海报。提交的摘要的数量，多样性和质量，以及科学委员会的出色工作，提供了有趣且均衡的科学程序。在接下来的六届会议上介绍了这些文稿。

为了提高张贴者的知名度，张贴者会议的一部分时间专门用于“ pico-session”，在此期间，张贴者的演示者最多可以有2分钟的时间来宣传他们的作品。提出者，特别是年轻的研究人员，以及感兴趣的参与者都对这一提议表示赞赏，并极大地刺激了海报板上的以下讨论。每节课后还提供了相当多的讨论时间和其他问题，这一提议也得到了听众的认可。

特别的亮点是日本NIAES国家农业环境科学研究所授予Rota Wagai博士的Huang PM博士奖，以表彰他对理解有机物，矿物质和微生物之间相互作用的杰出贡献。土壤。

由IUSS刺激基金，IIUSS委员会2.5，国际腐殖物质学会（IHSS）和塞维利亚大学提供的慷慨赞助，除主要演讲者外，还向青年科学家和资金不足国家的科学家提供了旅行补助。IRNAS‐CSIC的支持，以及Agrana AG，Bruker BioSpin GmbH，Analisis Vinicos，Abogase Legal SI和AMC Chemical＆TRICHODEX的赞助，为成功地提供了这个国际平台，使土壤科学的科学家和学生之间进行了富有成果的讨论，化学，生物学，生物化学，物理学，生态学或环境科学。

在《欧洲土壤科学杂志》这一期特刊中收集的论文反映了会议上交流的多样性。以下特刊根据会议的介绍，收录了14篇论文的一小部分。作为土壤碳和氮汇的部分，Briedis等人的贡献。（2021）描述了一项研究，涉及土地利用类型（原生植被[NV]与免耕系统[NT]）对有机碳（OC）储量和有机物化学成分（OM）的影响，力求更好地了解免耕区的有机碳积累以及在巴西高风化土壤中控制有机碳保护的机制。应用固态¹³通过筛分分为粗粒和细粒的土壤中的C核磁共振波谱分析，他们得出结论，“保持连续NT是一个必要的条件”，以提高SOM含量。他们进一步证实，不稳定化合物与土壤矿物质的相互作用可以看作是土壤中有机质保护的驱动因素。

Cissé，van Oort，Chenu，Essi和Staunton（2021）的文章将重点转移到土壤有机氮部分，并研究了在操作定义的部分草甘草素相关的土壤蛋白质中SOM的相对富集。这项研究依赖于法国凡尔赛的“ 42个地块”长期裸休试验，并对这一馏分的真菌起源和内在稳定性提出了质疑。结论是，GRSP是通过土壤有机质的循环利用而连续产生的，没有证据表明其主要是丛枝真菌起源的。土壤的pH值和氮源的可用性促进了蛋白质合成与积累之间的复杂平衡。

Le Bayon等人的工作。（2021年）介绍了使用X射线计算机断层扫描技术来表征worm来源的地下土壤团聚体的特征。它在专门介绍新的物理，化学和生物分析方法的部分中进行了介绍。密度和尺寸（低至30μm）的计算使作者能够区分矿物和轻有机空间和空隙空间，并在不同after作用后比较土壤中的孔径分布。这一重大进展为有机矿物质界面的研究提供了令人兴奋的可能性。

Pospíšilová和她的同事们提出了一种更加与成虫相关的方法（Pospíšilová等人，2021年）。他们对来自LitovelskéPomoraví（捷克共和国）的土壤的细土和粘土部分进行了X射线衍射（XRD），从而鉴定了羟基夹层ver石（HIV）。以前在波希米亚和摩拉维亚的黄土中似乎没有发现这种矿物。根据他们的发现，他们得出结论，艾滋病毒甚至ver石是成土粘土矿物。

Wu，Wu，Huang和Cai（2021）的论文证明了与矿物或有机矿物表面的相互作用如何对分子反应产生重要影响。这项研究报告说，一种矿物质，特别是水钠锰矿，可以促进质粒的共轭转移，并可能启动细胞内活性氧的形成。粘土矿物质可能有助于抗菌素耐药性的全球传播。

本次会议的目标生态的干扰是介绍土壤或自然灾害以及它们如何影响土壤矿物质，有机质和微生物之间的相互作用（MIS）管理的影响，一些新的见解。为了实现这一目标，Escobar Ortega，AguilarVásquez，ÁvilaAlba和Garcíade Salamone（2021年）评估了接种大豆和植物促根瘤菌（PGPR）的接种后，连作覆盖作物对根际微生物群落的影响。这项工作的基本假设是，通过将农作物残余物输入土壤，包括农作物在内的农作物的添加可以提高土壤质量。但是，使用草甘膦来中断覆盖作物的生长被认为会对微生物的根际群落产生负面影响，应该更好地理解这一点。因此，他们评估了两种覆盖农作物是否都接种了巴西盲。和荧光假单胞菌。，草甘膦对它们的生长中断以及播种时覆盖作物的施肥，都改变了根际微生物群落的功能和结构多样性。

Navas，Martín-Lammerding，Hontoria，Ulcuango和Mariscal-Sancho（2021年）的工作目标也是研究微生物群落对不断变化的管理方式的反应）。他们假设耕作类型会影响大型团聚体的丰度和大小，进而改变其中的微环境以及真菌和细菌的总丰度。对居住在每个聚集体部分的细菌（基于16S rRNA分析）和真菌（基于内部转录间隔区分析）的总丰度进行评估，他们发现细菌和真菌对管理实践诱导的聚集体分布变化的反应不同。他们进一步观察到，与真菌的丰度相比，聚集物中细菌的分布与C和N的浓度密切相关。

来自Navas，Pérez-Esteban，Torres，Hontoria和Moliner的另一篇论文（2021年）研究了在以前的铜矿开采区中沿金属污染梯度分布的微生物群落。它们的基本目标是确定和利用微生物的金属抗性，以用作生物肥料以提高植物修复的效率。沿污染梯度观察到物种丰富度的显着差异，并鉴定了具有金属抗性的基因。受污染的土壤可能是有用的微生物的重要储存库，特别是重氮根瘤菌和铜绿假单胞菌，它们能够抵抗大量的金属含量并提高养分利用率。

研究土壤中污染物的命运与研究和了解其吸附行为密切相关。为此，在第四届会议上，土壤界面的污染物动力学，Mikhail Borisover（2021）提出了一种新方法，该方法利用液相吸附实验中的单点解吸等温线根据吉布斯自由能来量化吸附-解吸滞后。非松弛状态。

Evans和Jacobs（2021）的研究调查了高山苔原土壤不同视野下的土壤中三次阴离子交换反应的复杂性，以评估其对铝生物地球化学的影响。分批和柱实验方法的组合用于跟踪草酸盐/氢氧化物/氟化物的交换以及铝的增溶。

近年来，对草甘膦应用的关注已大大增加。因此，在加利西亚·安德烈斯，图内加，格扎别克和奥斯滕布林克（2021年）介绍之后，这种广泛使用的除草剂在土壤中的行为也是ISMOM上讨论的一个问题。），他研究了草甘膦与高岭土之间相互作用的分子基础，高岭石是一种在亚热带和热带土壤中具有高丰度的粘土矿物。他们将力场分子动力学仿真与使用基于密度泛函理论的方法进行的第一原理计算相结合，尤其对氢键形成作为前体阶段的作用感兴趣。他们证实，高岭石对土壤对草甘膦的总体吸附能力具有重要贡献，特别是阴离子形式。

在会议上提出了另一种农业化学品的研究，专门用于土壤改良剂; Aldana，Hazlerigg，Lopez-Capel和Werner的贡献（2021）提供了分批研究的结果，其中研究了将阿特拉津，敌草隆，恩诺沙星，土霉素和生物炭以不同剂量应用于具有不同质地的热带土壤的吸附和保留。他们确定了稻壳生物炭为可有效减少所选农用化学品浸出的改良剂。但是，由于该修正导致土壤性质的变化可能会无意中导致淋溶增加，因此作者得出结论，应谨慎实施该方法，并应进行实地研究，评估经生物炭改良的土壤对土壤最终命运的长期影响。仍然需要农药。

Leiva‐Suárez等。（2021年）建议使用富含氮的生物炭作为缓释肥料，并研究了在第二个种植期中污水污泥衍生的水炭和焦炭中氮和磷的长期有效性。他们准备了一种土壤，之前用¹³ C和¹⁵ N富集的水煤和焦炭进行了改良，并进行了第一个种植期。在用黑麦草进行第二次种植后，监测了同位素标记在作物和土壤之间的分布。水炭被确定为长期施肥的良好候选者，并且据报导，所有改性剂在长期内具有可比的周转率，而与它们的芳香性和天然SOM无关。

在会议上介绍的另一项工作中，Liu等人在土壤中的养分利用率。（2021）检验了通过增加施氮量可以提高硝化抑制剂效率的假设。为了验证这一假设，进行了不同氮肥施用量和添加硝化抑制剂3,4-二甲基吡唑磷酸酯（DMPP）的田间试验，并确定了添加DMPP减少土壤N ₂ O排放的各自功效。他们认为氨氧化细菌可能是主要的N ₂氮处理土壤中的O排放贡献者。他们进一步报告说，DMPP在高氮含量下更有效，并得出结论，DMPP的使用可以作为减轻与土壤N ₂ O排放相关的环境风险的有效策略。

我们要感谢EJSS为这次特刊提供了机会，并感谢主编Jennifer Dungait教授和EJSS出版人员的大力帮助和支持。最后，我们要感谢撰稿人，并对所有审稿人表示由衷的感谢，没有他们，这个特殊的问题就不可能完成。最后但并非最不重要的一点，我们感谢第八届ISMOM的所有参加者的活动，这次活动使会议成为一个生动而成功的活动。我们期待在2024年第9届ISMOM上继续本次会议上发起的讨论和互动。