The LLNL Soil Microbiome Science Focus Area (SFA)—Microbes Persist: Systems Biology of the Soil Microbiome—seeks to understand how microbial ecophysiology, population dynamics, and microbe–mineral–organic matter interactions regulate the persistence of microbial residues in soil under changing moisture regimes. Members of the soil microbiome (bacteria, archaea, fungi, microfauna, and viruses) play key roles in soil carbon turnover and the stabilization of persistent organic matter via their metabolic activities, cellular biochemistry, and extracellular products. Soils store more carbon than the atmosphere and biosphere combined, yet the mechanisms that regulate soil carbon remain elusive. Microbial residues are a primary ingredient in soil organic matter (SOM), a pool that is critical to agriculture, healthy ecosystems, and Earth’s climate.
The U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Biological and Environmental Research (BER) under contract DE-AC52- 07NA27344.