Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
7.4
4.1
Journals
Microorganisms
Special Issues
Microbes and Biogeochemical Cycling in Terrestrial Ecosystems Under Climate Change
share announcement

Microbes and Biogeochemical Cycling in Terrestrial Ecosystems Under Climate Change

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2025 | Viewed by 2042

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Fazhu Zhao

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Northwest University, Xi'an, China
Interests: soil science; soil aggregate stability, soil carbon and nitrogen cycle; soil microbial carbon sequestration

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Microbes, the most diverse organisms on earth, play a pivotal role in terrestrial ecosystems by influencing essential processes such as litter decomposition, nutrient cycling, biodiversity maintenance, soil fertility, and climate regulation. Understanding the microbial mechanisms involved in soil carbon and nutrient cycling is crucial for comprehending ecosystem dynamics and their feedback to the climate system. This Special Issue aims to address the following key questions:

  1. How do soil microbes influence specific aspects of carbon and nutrient cycling processes?
  2. What factors govern the resilience and adaptation of microbial community structures in response to environmental changes?
  3. How do microbial functional traits related to carbon and nutrient cycling operate at the ecosystem level?
  4. How do microbial processes vary temporally and spatially across different terrestrial landscapes?

Prof. Dr. Fazhu Zhao
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Microorganisms is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • soil microbes
  • biogeochemical cycling
  • climate change

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

18 pages, 5105 KiB  
Article
Biochar Co-Applied with Lime Enhances Soil Phosphorus Availability via Microbial and Enzymatic Modulation of Paddy Soil
by Yang Zhang, Caidi Yang, Jun Wang and Shenggao Lu
Microorganisms 2025, 13(3), 582; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms13030582 - 4 Mar 2025
Viewed by 496
Abstract
Soil microorganisms play a crucial role in improving soil phosphorus (P) availability. However, few studies have explored the changes in microbial community structure and their underlying mechanisms for improving soil P availability with the application of biochar and lime. Three kinds of biochar, [...] Read more.
Soil microorganisms play a crucial role in improving soil phosphorus (P) availability. However, few studies have explored the changes in microbial community structure and their underlying mechanisms for improving soil P availability with the application of biochar and lime. Three kinds of biochar, made from rice straw (SB), Chinese fir wood sawdust (WB), and pig manure (MB), alone and with lime (SBL, WBL, and MBL), were applied to paddy soil to reveal the biochemical mechanisms for enhancing soil P availability. High-throughput sequencing and real-time PCR were used to investigate soil microbial communities and P functional genes. The three biochars increased the soil’s available P in the order of MB > SB > WB. Biochar co-applied with lime increased the available P (Olsen-P by 169–209%) and inorganic P (Al-P by 53.4–161%, Fe-P by 96.3–198%, and Ca-P by 59.0–154%) more than biochar alone, compared to the control (CK). Both biochar alone and co-applied with lime increased the activities of alkaline phosphomonoesterase (ALP), phosphodiesterase (PD), and inorganic pyrophosphatase (IPP) by 369–806%, 28.4–67.3%, and 37.9–181%, respectively, while it decreased the activity of acidic phosphomonoesterase (ACP) by 15.1–44.0%, compared to CK. Biochar, both alone and co-applied with lime, reduced the copy number of phoC gene by 5.37–88.7%, while it increased the phoD, gcd, and pqqC genes by 51.3–533%, 62.1–275%, and 25.2–158%, respectively, compared to CK. A correlation analysis and partial least squares path modeling (PLS-PM) indicated that Olsen-P, Bray-1 P, and inorganic P were significantly positively correlated with the activities of ALP, PD, IPP, and the phoD gene. Biochar co-applied with lime increased the relative abundances of the phoD-harboring bacteria Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Acidobacteria, which promoted the transformation of P to the effective state. Meanwhile, the dominant species Anaerolinea, Ascomycota, Mucoromycota, and Chaetomium provided rich effective nutrients for the soil microorganisms by accelerating the decomposition of soil organic matter, thus promoting phosphatase activity. It could be inferred that the optimized microbial community structure improved phosphatase activity by increasing the phoD gene and available nutrients, thus promoting the soil P availability. Biochar co-applied with lime had a better effect on increasing the P availability and rice yields than biochar alone. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microbes and Biogeochemical Cycling in Terrestrial Ecosystems Under Climate Change)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

12 pages, 2238 KiB  
Article
Antarctic Soils Select Copiotroph-Dominated Bacteria
by Lujie Zhang, Xue Zhao, Jieying Wang, Liyuan He, Chengjie Ren, Jun Wang, Yaoxin Guo, Ninglian Wang and Fazhu Zhao
Microorganisms 2024, 12(8), 1689; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms12081689 - 16 Aug 2024
Viewed by 1149
Abstract
The life strategies of bacterial communities determine their structure and function and are an important driver of biogeochemical cycling. However, the variations in these strategies under different soil resource conditions remain largely unknown. We explored the bacterial life strategies and changes in structure [...] Read more.
The life strategies of bacterial communities determine their structure and function and are an important driver of biogeochemical cycling. However, the variations in these strategies under different soil resource conditions remain largely unknown. We explored the bacterial life strategies and changes in structure and functions between Antarctic soils and forest (temperate, subtropical, and tropical) soils. The results showed that the weighted mean rRNA operon copy number in temperate soils was 19.5% lower than that in Antarctic soils, whereas no significant differences were observed among Antarctic, subtropical, and tropical soils. An unexpected result was that bacterial communities in Antarctic soils tended to be copiotrophs, such as Actinobacteriota and Bacteroidota, whereas those in temperate soils tended to be oligotrophs, such as Acidobacteriota and Chloroflexi. Functional predictions showed that in comparison to copiotrophs in Antarctic soils, temperate-inhabiting oligotrophic bacteria exhibited an 84.2–91.1% lower abundance of labile C decomposition genes (hemicellulose, cellulose, monosaccharides, and disaccharides), whereas a 74.4% higher abundance of stable C decomposition (lignin). Genes involved in N cycling (nitrogen fixation, assimilatory nitrate reduction, and denitrification) were 24.3–64.4% lower in temperate soils than in Antarctic soils. Collectively, our study provides a framework for describing the life strategies of soil bacteria, which are crucial to global biogeochemical cycles. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microbes and Biogeochemical Cycling in Terrestrial Ecosystems Under Climate Change)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-2
Back to TopTop