NZJZ call for papers: Special issue: Animals in the microbial world - contemporary perspectives

This special issue of the New Zealand Journal of Zoology invites submissions with a focus on the diverse interactions of animals with the microbial world.

From the origin of the eukaryotic cell 2 billion years ago, to nearly all aspects of animal existence today and in the future, microbes continue to be revealed as key contributors to life on Earth as we know it. Animals interact in diverse ways with their microbial partners. These interactions can be highly beneficial or detrimental and everything in between. Animal-microbe relationships can be short-term flings such as gut microbe responses to shifting animal diets or habits, last many millennia like insect-intracellular symbionts or be terminal to the host as in the case of some fungal pathogens. This special issue seeks to focus on zoological interrogations involving often invisible, yet important, microbial partners.

We invite submissions that address the myriad of animal-microbial interactions, including but not limited to: disease-causing microbes, microbiota of unusual or unique fauna, microbe-animal or holobiont evolution, beneficial functions of microbes in animal health and immunity, biotechnological potential of animal-associated microbes, acquisition, assembly and transmission of microbes within and across animal hosts and the environment. Submissions concerning the place of microbes within animal life in te ao Māori (Māori worldview) or other indigenous perspectives are also highly encouraged.

Submission information

Please email a preliminary title, list of potential authors and a short descriptive paragraph outlining the scope of your proposed manuscript by 12 Hereturikōkā August 2022 to the guest editors Dr Manpreet K Dhami (dhamim@landcareresearch.co.nz) and Professor Mike Taylor (mw.taylor@auckland.ac.nz). The guest editors will make a decision on which manuscripts to invite for the Special Issue and authors will be notified by 2 Mahuru September 2022.

Note that an invitation to submit does not guarantee acceptance for publication, which will depend on the outcome of the usual peer-review process and authors meeting critical time schedules.

The anticipated manuscript submission deadline is 28 Huitānguru February 2023, with the aim of getting the Special Issue formally published by late 2023. Individual articles will be published online with a DOI before appearing in the compiled Special Issue.

Image credit: Priscilla San Juan