The Soil Microbiome-An Overview

This chapter examines the knowledge with respect to the overall structures of soil microbiomes, and the future developments that are required to deeper explore their composition, ecology, and functional attributes. It provides an assessment of the taxonomic distribution of soil microbiome taxa and discuss the potential relationship between the phylogenetic structure of soil microbiomes and ecosystem functioning. Despite the long history of soil microbiome research, soil microbiologists still struggle with the complexity and variability of the microbiomes across soil types. The spatiotemporal variability across the soil microhabitats, the microscale variation across space and time, poses fundamental challenges to the understanding of the dynamics of soil microbiome structure and activity. The chapter explains the ecological properties of soil microbiomes with respect to their role in the resistance and resilience of soil to disturbances. Variations in soil microbiome structure are similarly driven by key factors of particular importance, such as soil salinity, pH, organic carbon quality and quantity, and soil redox status.