Microbial dynamics in soil: Impacts on fertility, nutrient cycling, and soil properties for sustainable geosciences—people, planet, and prosperity

The earth’s surface constitutes a layer of soil around it which is termed as pedosphere. Soil holds millions of microbes that are involved in improving soil fertility. The increasing use of chemical fertilizers has become a major factor which is deteriorating soil microflora. It has resulted in decreased soil fertility. Soil organisms are involved in a number of processes like cycling of soil nutrients and providing them to plants. They are also involved in volatilization that may lead to nutrient loss. Microorganisms have an important role in carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur transformations, as well as organic matter degradation. They have an impact on the global nutrient and carbon cycle. The soil microflora is also involved in modulating the various physico-chemical properties of soil like pH, moisture, temperature etc. Soil properties and soil microorganisms are highly correlated with each other. The huge diversity of microorganisms in soil also plays a central role in regulating and supporting various ecosystem services. This review highlights the crucial role of different microbes in various nutrient cycling which is one of the major concerns to address the decreasing status of soil nutrients. It also covers various physico-chemical properties which affects soil microbial community and various ecosystem services provided by microbial activity.

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