The land-water ecotones, such as coastal areas, wetlands, riverine zones, and aquifer recharge areas, serve as important transition zones, fostering intricate biogeochemical processes between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. These environments harbor unique environmental conditions shaped by the close proximity of land and water bodies. Within these ecotones, microorganisms (bacteria, archaea, fungi, etc.) play a pivotal role in driving nutrient biogeochemical cycles and removing contaminants. Given the diverse anthropogenic activities and intensive and complex mass and energy exchanges, comprehending these biogeochemical processes presents a formidable challenge.
One of the significant challenges is due to the complex interactions between microbes and the diverse environments they inhabit. The functionalities of microbial communities interconnect the exchanges of mass and energy among the biosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and anthroposphere in land-water ecotones. For instance, iron bacteria facilitated the coupling of iron with carbon cycling under fluctuating redox conditions. Rewetting wetlands significantly lowers greenhouse gas emissions. Electron transfer and mass exchange between microorganisms and minerals occur in the euphotic zone and estuarine ecosystems. With the migration of easily mobile organic and inorganic contaminants across ecosystem boundaries due to geogenic and anthropogenic processes, the role of microbial communities in degrading or detoxifying the contaminants becomes vital for environmental protection. This Research Topic will therefore present advances in understanding the metabolism, distribution, and underlying drivers of microbes and their functions in both pristine and contaminated land-water ecotones, with the aim of improving our understanding of global nutrient biogeochemical cycles, contaminant bioremediation, microbial-environment interaction.
This Research Topic will include research articles, perspectives, and reviews, focusing on but not limited to the following scopes:
-Microbial-driven carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, and metal cycling in nearshore, euphotic zone and sediments of coastal and estuarine ecosystems
- Bioremediation strategies for nitrogen, heavy metal, petroleum hydrocarbon, and emerging contaminants in vadose-groundwater and surface water-groundwater ecosystems
-Electron transfer and mass exchange between bacteria/archaea, water, and rock/mineral
-Migration and source tracing of bacteria across subsurface environmental boundaries
-Spatial-temporal patterns of bacterial, archaeal, and fungal community assembly mechanisms and functional potentials
If your manuscript is mainly concentrating on bioremediation, we suggest you choose the Microbiotechnology section when you submit your manuscript. Please note that both Microbiotechnology and Microbiological Chemistry and Geomicrobiology sections encourage hypothesis-driven articles. Metagenomic screening studies are suggested considering Frontiers in Microbiome as the submission target.
The land-water ecotones, such as coastal areas, wetlands, riverine zones, and aquifer recharge areas, serve as important transition zones, fostering intricate biogeochemical processes between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. These environments harbor unique environmental conditions shaped by the close proximity of land and water bodies. Within these ecotones, microorganisms (bacteria, archaea, fungi, etc.) play a pivotal role in driving nutrient biogeochemical cycles and removing contaminants. Given the diverse anthropogenic activities and intensive and complex mass and energy exchanges, comprehending these biogeochemical processes presents a formidable challenge.
One of the significant challenges is due to the complex interactions between microbes and the diverse environments they inhabit. The functionalities of microbial communities interconnect the exchanges of mass and energy among the biosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and anthroposphere in land-water ecotones. For instance, iron bacteria facilitated the coupling of iron with carbon cycling under fluctuating redox conditions. Rewetting wetlands significantly lowers greenhouse gas emissions. Electron transfer and mass exchange between microorganisms and minerals occur in the euphotic zone and estuarine ecosystems. With the migration of easily mobile organic and inorganic contaminants across ecosystem boundaries due to geogenic and anthropogenic processes, the role of microbial communities in degrading or detoxifying the contaminants becomes vital for environmental protection. This Research Topic will therefore present advances in understanding the metabolism, distribution, and underlying drivers of microbes and their functions in both pristine and contaminated land-water ecotones, with the aim of improving our understanding of global nutrient biogeochemical cycles, contaminant bioremediation, microbial-environment interaction.
This Research Topic will include research articles, perspectives, and reviews, focusing on but not limited to the following scopes:
-Microbial-driven carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, and metal cycling in nearshore, euphotic zone and sediments of coastal and estuarine ecosystems
- Bioremediation strategies for nitrogen, heavy metal, petroleum hydrocarbon, and emerging contaminants in vadose-groundwater and surface water-groundwater ecosystems
-Electron transfer and mass exchange between bacteria/archaea, water, and rock/mineral
-Migration and source tracing of bacteria across subsurface environmental boundaries
-Spatial-temporal patterns of bacterial, archaeal, and fungal community assembly mechanisms and functional potentials
If your manuscript is mainly concentrating on bioremediation, we suggest you choose the Microbiotechnology section when you submit your manuscript. Please note that both Microbiotechnology and Microbiological Chemistry and Geomicrobiology sections encourage hypothesis-driven articles. Metagenomic screening studies are suggested considering Frontiers in Microbiome as the submission target.