Environmental Microbiology provides a high profile vehicle for publication of the most innovative, original and rigorous research in the field. The scope of the Journal encompasses the diversity of current research on microbial processes in the environment, microbial communities, interactions and evolution and includes, but is not limited to, the following:the structure, activities and communal behaviour of microbial communitiesmicrobial community genetics and evolutionary processesmicrobial symbioses, microbial interactions and interactions with plants, animals and abiotic factorsmicrobes in the tree of life, microbial diversification and evolutionpopulation biology and clonal structuremicrobial metabolic and structural diversitymicrobial physiology, growth and survivalmicrobes and surfaces, adhesion and biofoulingresponses to environmental signals and stress factorsmodelling and theory developmentpollution microbiologyextremophiles and life in extreme and unusual little-explored habitatselement cycles and biogeochemical processes, primary and secondary productionmicrobes in a changing world, microbially-influenced global changesevolution and diversity of archaeal and bacterial virusesnew technological developments in microbial ecology and evolution, in particular for the study of activities of microbial communities, non-culturable microorganisms and emerging pathogens