Three-dimensional Microorganization of the Soil–Root–Microbe System
Abstract
Soils contain the greatest reservoir of biodiversity on Earth, and the functionality of the soil ecosystem sustains the rest of the terrestrial biosphere. This functionality results from complex interactions between biological and physical processes that are strongly modulated by the soil physical structure. Using a novel combination of biochemical and biophysical indicators and synchrotron microtomography, we have discovered that soil microbes and plant roots microengineer their habitats by changing the porosity and clustering properties (i.e., spatial correlation) of the soil pores. Our results indicate that biota act to significantly alter their habitat toward a more porous, ordered, and aggregated structure that has important consequences for functional properties, including transport processes. These observations support the hypothesis that the soil-plant-microbe complex is self-organized.
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Soil biota and roots help increase the porosity of soil.
“A couple of examples include the facts that the soil biota (and roots) help increase the porosity of soil (Feeney et al., 2006)”
From Breeding crop plants with deep roots: their role in sustainable carbon, nutrient and water sequestration (2011) · cites this paper as Feeney et al., 2006
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- Authors
- Feeney, D. S., Crawford, J. W., Daniell, T., Hallett, P. D., Nunan, N., Ritz, K., Rivers, M., & Young, I. M.
- Affiliations
- Abertay University (GB)
- James Hutton Institute (GB)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Cranfield University (GB)
- Argonne National Laboratory (US)
- Corresponding author
- Young, Iain M.
- Venue
- Microbial Ecology
- Published
- 2006-05-06
- Volume
- 52
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 151-158
- ISSN
- 0095-3628 (ISSN-L)
- 1432-184X
- OpenAlex
- W2085638849
- Cited by
- 273
- References
- 28
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 19 · 2014: 13 · 2013: 16 · 2012: 13
- FWCI
- 46.59
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Microbial Ecology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- EPubDev Repository (submittedVersion)
- HAL (submittedVersion)
- ENLIGHTEN (Jurnal Bimbingan dan Konseling Islam) (submittedVersion)
- RUNE (Research UNE) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Civil and Structural Engineering › Soil and Unsaturated Flow
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Soil Management and Crop Yield
- Keywords
- plant-soil-microbe interactions, soil pore structure, soil porosity, plant roots, soil structure, self-organization, transport phenomena, soil aggregation, synchrotron microtomography
- MeSH terms
- Fungi, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Lolium, Soil, Soil Microbiology, Porosity, Ecosystem, Bacterial Physiological Phenomena, Plant Roots, Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions
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