Abstract
Microbial communities play important roles in soil health, contributing to processes such as the turnover of organic matter and nutrient cycling. As soil edaphic properties such as chemical composition and physical structure change from surface layers to deeper ones, the soil microbiome similarly exhibits substantial variability with depth, with respect to both community composition and functional profiles. However, soil microbiome studies often neglect deeper soils, instead focusing on the top layer of soil. Here, we provide a synthesis on how the soil and its resident microbiome change with depth. We touch upon soil physicochemical properties, microbial diversity, composition, and functional profiles, with a special emphasis on carbon cycling. In doing so, we seek to highlight the importance of incorporating analyses of deeper soils in soil studies.
Highlights
The microbiome is an essential component of the soil ecosystem, influencing processes such as soil formation and fertility, plant growth and stress tolerance, nutrient turnover, and carbon storage
Studies have begun to address subsoils as entities distinct from the surface, finding that environmental influences [8], inputs of fresh organic matter (OM) [4], nutrient levels [9], gas and moisture levels [10], and physical structure [11,12] all vary as a function of soil depth
We explore the influence of soil depth on the soil microbiome, focusing on differences between surface and higher subsoil layers
Summary
The microbiome is an essential component of the soil ecosystem, influencing processes such as soil formation and fertility, plant growth and stress tolerance, nutrient turnover, and carbon storage. Studies have begun to address subsoils as entities distinct from the surface, finding that environmental influences [8], inputs of fresh organic matter (OM) [4], nutrient levels [9], gas and moisture levels [10], and physical structure [11,12] all vary as a function of soil depth. Such changes in soil properties in turn influence the composition of soil microbial communities [13–16]. We explore the influence of soil depth on the soil microbiome, focusing on differences between surface and higher subsoil layers. Microorganisms 2022, 10, 540 current limitations of soil models and how these limitations may be alleviated in future experiments
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