Microbial Interactions & Microbial Ecology

The distribution and function of microorganisms are of crucial importance for the flow of matter in the Earth's biogeochemical cycles. Effects of microbial communities on the carbon and nitrogen cycles are particularly important for producing climate gases such as CO2, CH4, or N2O. However, the biogeochemical cycles are reversely impacted by global climate change, for example by increasing temperature, increasing CO2 concentration, or changing soil humidity. Microbes are critical players in every geochemical cycle relevant to climate. 

 

The sum total of microbial activity is enormous and the models are used to understand how Earth’s climate works include thousands of different variables from many scientific including atmospherics, oceanography, seismology, geology, physics and chemistry, but few take into consideration the vast effect that microbes have on climate. The American Academy of Microbiology came with a new report, "Incorporating Microbial Processes into Climate Models", offers a plan for integrating the latest understanding of the science of microbiology into climate models. They demonstrate that the microbial processes that affect climate do not necessarily balance each other out.