Microbial Communities in Soil: Drivers of Terrestrial Ecosystem Processes

A special issue of Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Microbiology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2025 | Viewed by 62

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
College of Biological Sciences and Technology, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
Interests: bioremediation and safety assessment of polluted environment; waste biological treatment and resource utilization technology; microbial molecular ecology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Soil microbial communities serve as fundamental regulators of terrestrial ecosystem processes, mediating biogeochemical cycles through complex interactions with plants across multiple spatial scales. Recent advances have revealed how these intricate plant–microbe–soil networks govern ecosystem functioning through sophisticated metabolic coupling and signaling cascades. However, critical knowledge gaps persist, limit our understanding of (1) the scaling relationships between microbial community dynamics and ecosystem processes; (2) the evolutionary ecology of plant–microbiome symbioses; (3) the context dependency of these interactions across different ecosystems; and (4) the emergent properties arising from plant–soil–microbiome feedback.

This Special Issue will explore the latest advances in soil microbiome research, from molecular mechanisms to ecological applications. We welcome studies on microbial diversity, plant–microbe interactions, functional genomics, and the role of microbes in soil health in different landscapes and under the effects of global climatic change. Contributions may address fundamental ecology, novel methodologies, or applied solutions for sustainable ecosystems and environmental management.

Dr. Xiawei Peng
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • soil microbiome assembly
  • microbial functional traits
  • ecological networks
  • metagenomics
  • plant–soil feedback
  • climate change adaptation
  • microbiome engineering
  • ecosystem services
  • sustainable land management
  • soil biodiversity conservation

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Published Papers

This special issue is now open for submission.
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