The Involvement of Microorganisms in Nutrient Cycling in Ecosystems
A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Nutrition".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2024 | Viewed by 1335
Special Issue Editor
Interests: soil microorganisms; nutrient cycling; land restoration; plant growth promoters
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
We are pleased to announce this new Special Issue of plants, devoted to the effect of microorganisms in shaping the ecosystem's fertility.
Microorganisms play important roles in the cycles of various nutrients in ecosystems. The presence of a sheer diversity of microorganisms involved in the cycling of nutrients brings light to processes previously unexplained. Denitrifying fungi, nitrifying archaea, anammox bacteria, aerobic denitrifying bacteria, and heterotrophic nitrifying microorganisms, just to mention those involved in the cycling of N, are key players in the shaping of ecosystems. Similarly, plant species create a positive feedback to patterns of nutrient cycling in natural ecosystems. In nutrient-poor ecosystems, plant growth and the efficiency in the use of nutrients are reduced. This results in reduced production of biomass that deter herbivory. This is coupled with poor-quality litter that decomposes slowly. On the other hand, plant species from nutrient-rich ecosystems grow rapidly, produce readily degradable litter, and sustain high rates of herbivory, which in turn enhances elevated rates of nutrient cycling. Differences in carbon deposition levels due to differences in the composition of plant communities also create a positive feedback to nutrient cycling, favoring particular microbial communities associated with the rhizosphere. These trade-offs in the plant–soil–microorganism interphase deserve new research to prove that they can be as or more important than abiotic factors, such as climate, in controlling ecosystem fertility.
Prof. Dr. María Pérez-Fernández
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- soil microorganisms
- nutrient cycling
- plant growth promoters (PGPR), C, N, P
- fertility
- symbiosis
- fungi
- bacteria
- archaea
