Lunch Seminar "Drought and soil microbes: Physical processes set limits to physiological adaptations"

Abstract

Soil moisture strongly affects microbial activity and hence a whole range of ecosystem processes, including soil respiration, nutrient mineralization, and dissolved organic matter leaching. Therefore, understanding the mechanisms of microbial responses to dry conditions and drying-wetting cycles is extremely important. In this presentation, physical processes and microbial physiological responses during changing soil water availability are reviewed. Because little is known about microbial community responses in field conditions, a mathematical model is proposed to explore in silico the effectiveness of different response strategies (e.g., osmoregulation, dormancy). Finally, the ecological and biogeochemical relevance of such strategies are discussed, and different microbial functional groups are accordingly defined.