The interactions between plants, the soil and microbes are complex in nature. In interactions between plants and soil, microorganisms have a significant role in ecological stability through regulating the biogeochemical cycling of elements. However, microbial communities themselves are usually regulated by other soil animals in soil food webs. Therefore, understanding the mechanisms that underlie interactions between plants, soil microorganism and soil animals can help inform ecosystem and agricultural sustainability efforts.
Soil microorganisms and microarthropods have interacted since the Devonian period, when food webs began developing in the soil around the first terrestrial plants. An overwhelming number of studies have demonstrated that interactions among soil microbes (including bacteria, fungi, protists) and invertebrates are central to many processes in the soil, ranging from decomposition to the functioning of the rhizosphere. However, most of the available literature addresses the effects of soil microbes-arthropod interactions on ecological functioning using addition and/or removal manipulation, which limits our ability to explore the complex links among components of the soil food web and underlying mechanisms under field conditions. The development of high-throughput sequencing technology and ecological network analysis provides us an opportunity to further understand the links between soil microbes and soil microarthropods and utilize these interactions to restore ecosystem multifunctionality.
Global warming and land-use/land-cover (LULC) change, two important drivers that have arisen as a result of anthropogenic activity, are potentially dangerous and disruptive to wildlife and agricultural ecosystems, and consequently, to humans. To date, the responses of soil microbial communities or soil microarthropods to global warming and LULC change have been intensively studied, however our knowledge about soil microbes-arthropod interactions remains scarce. Since we don’t know how groups of species differentially respond to climate versus LULC change, we cannot develop effective strategies to enhance ecosystem resilience to climate change. In addition, we want to reveal how soil biodiversity respond to herbicide application, heavy metal pollution and microplastic pollution, as these pollutants pose a potential risk to soil biodiversity and the results can cast molecular insights into plant–microbe interactions for sustainable remediation of contaminated environment.
This Research Topic aims to collect scientific findings on microbe-arthropod interactions from leading ecologists worldwide. This includes demonstrating cascade effects of various types of environmental stresses on ecosystem multifunctionality, deciphering the keystone species that play key roles in the stabilization of ecosystem under stressful environments, and elucidating the drivers of biodiversity. To better cope with the global food supply deficit, we particularly welcome research on essential crop plants, including rice, wheat, maize, soybean, barley, and other food crops. We hope this Research Topic will provide a communication platform for most plant protection researchers and provide a specific holistic basis for integrated pest control and ecological restoration in the near future. We welcome the submission of different article types, including original research papers, methods, reviews/mini-reviews, commentaries, and perspectives on the following subtopics but not limited to:
- Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi-nematode/springtail interactions;
- plant-soil protists-nematode interactions;
- plant-nematode-earthworm interactions;
- effects of soil microbes-nematode interactions on plant pathogen suppression;
- Responses in plant-microbes-nematode interactions to global warming and LULC change in ecosystems, including agricultural ecosystem, grassland ecosystem and forestry ecosystem;
- Soil microbes-microarthropod interactions in some high latitude and high-altitude sites;
- Soil microbes-microarthropod interactions in degraded ecosystems resulting from grazing, mining, plant invasion etc.;
- Responses in soil microbes-microarthropod interactions to microplastics, herbicides and heavy metal pollution.
Please note: descriptive studies that are solely based on amplicon (eg. 16S rRNA) profiles will not be considered, unless they are accompanied by a clear hypothesis and experimentation and provide insight into the microbiological system or process being studied.
The interactions between plants, the soil and microbes are complex in nature. In interactions between plants and soil, microorganisms have a significant role in ecological stability through regulating the biogeochemical cycling of elements. However, microbial communities themselves are usually regulated by other soil animals in soil food webs. Therefore, understanding the mechanisms that underlie interactions between plants, soil microorganism and soil animals can help inform ecosystem and agricultural sustainability efforts.
Soil microorganisms and microarthropods have interacted since the Devonian period, when food webs began developing in the soil around the first terrestrial plants. An overwhelming number of studies have demonstrated that interactions among soil microbes (including bacteria, fungi, protists) and invertebrates are central to many processes in the soil, ranging from decomposition to the functioning of the rhizosphere. However, most of the available literature addresses the effects of soil microbes-arthropod interactions on ecological functioning using addition and/or removal manipulation, which limits our ability to explore the complex links among components of the soil food web and underlying mechanisms under field conditions. The development of high-throughput sequencing technology and ecological network analysis provides us an opportunity to further understand the links between soil microbes and soil microarthropods and utilize these interactions to restore ecosystem multifunctionality.
Global warming and land-use/land-cover (LULC) change, two important drivers that have arisen as a result of anthropogenic activity, are potentially dangerous and disruptive to wildlife and agricultural ecosystems, and consequently, to humans. To date, the responses of soil microbial communities or soil microarthropods to global warming and LULC change have been intensively studied, however our knowledge about soil microbes-arthropod interactions remains scarce. Since we don’t know how groups of species differentially respond to climate versus LULC change, we cannot develop effective strategies to enhance ecosystem resilience to climate change. In addition, we want to reveal how soil biodiversity respond to herbicide application, heavy metal pollution and microplastic pollution, as these pollutants pose a potential risk to soil biodiversity and the results can cast molecular insights into plant–microbe interactions for sustainable remediation of contaminated environment.
This Research Topic aims to collect scientific findings on microbe-arthropod interactions from leading ecologists worldwide. This includes demonstrating cascade effects of various types of environmental stresses on ecosystem multifunctionality, deciphering the keystone species that play key roles in the stabilization of ecosystem under stressful environments, and elucidating the drivers of biodiversity. To better cope with the global food supply deficit, we particularly welcome research on essential crop plants, including rice, wheat, maize, soybean, barley, and other food crops. We hope this Research Topic will provide a communication platform for most plant protection researchers and provide a specific holistic basis for integrated pest control and ecological restoration in the near future. We welcome the submission of different article types, including original research papers, methods, reviews/mini-reviews, commentaries, and perspectives on the following subtopics but not limited to:
- Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi-nematode/springtail interactions;
- plant-soil protists-nematode interactions;
- plant-nematode-earthworm interactions;
- effects of soil microbes-nematode interactions on plant pathogen suppression;
- Responses in plant-microbes-nematode interactions to global warming and LULC change in ecosystems, including agricultural ecosystem, grassland ecosystem and forestry ecosystem;
- Soil microbes-microarthropod interactions in some high latitude and high-altitude sites;
- Soil microbes-microarthropod interactions in degraded ecosystems resulting from grazing, mining, plant invasion etc.;
- Responses in soil microbes-microarthropod interactions to microplastics, herbicides and heavy metal pollution.
Please note: descriptive studies that are solely based on amplicon (eg. 16S rRNA) profiles will not be considered, unless they are accompanied by a clear hypothesis and experimentation and provide insight into the microbiological system or process being studied.