Biogeochemical significance of plant-microbial interactions in the Critical Zone

In Critical Zone research - https://czo-archive.criticalzone.org/national/research/the-critical-zone-1national/ - the microbial interaction of plants in the rhizosphere is most important. Apart from legumes that host nitrogen-fixing bacterial species, the rhizospheres of other plants have a symbiotic relationship with mycorrhizal fungi. I believe that in biological weathering and resulting biogeochemical interactions, the microbial interaction with the plants is of great importance — the structure of the microbiome in the rhizosphere governs the mobility and speciation of chemical elements.

A recent revelation of positive interactions among bacterial species Kehe et al. (2021) and the influence of endophytic bacteria over epiphytic population in the rhizosphere Zgadzaj et al. (2016) form a critical component of future research in the Critical Zone. Further, Critical Zone research should focus more on the community structure of the plants and their endophytic and epiphytic microbiome in the soil of the rhizosphere of a given area. The ambient temperature and moisture conditions shall profoundly impact such a population and their biogeochemical interactions. Those results are very much essential in the understanding of ecosystem functioning under the changing climate.
 

Further reading:

Heintz-Buschart, A., Guerra, C., Djukic, I., Cesarz, S., Chatzinotas, A., Patoine, G., Sikorski, J., Buscot, F., Küsel, K., Wegner, C.-E., Eisenhauer, N., 2020. Microbial diversity-ecosystem function relationships across environmental gradients. RIO 6, e52217. https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.6.e52217

Kehe, J., Ortiz, A., Kulesa, A., Gore, J., Blainey, P.C., Friedman, J., 2021. Positive interactions are common among culturable bacteria. Sci. Adv. 7, eabi7159. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abi7159

Zgadzaj, R., Garrido-Oter, R., Jensen, D.B., Koprivova, A., Schulze-Lefert, P., Radutoiu, S., 2016. Root nodule symbiosis in Lotus japonicus drives the establishment of distinctive rhizosphere, root, and nodule bacterial communities. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 113, E7996–E8005. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1616564113