Das, Suvendu

Ho, Adian

Kim, Pil Joo

English

Institutionelles Repositorium der Leibniz Universität Hannover

EDITORIALpublished: 26 November 2019doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2019.02756Frontiers in Microbiology | www.frontiersin.org 1 November 2019 | Volume 10 | Article 2756Edited by:Malin Bomberg,VTT Technical Research Centre ofFinland Ltd., FinlandReviewed by:Ederson Da Conceicao Jesus,Brazilian Agricultural ResearchCorporation (EMBRAPA), BrazilSteffen Kolb,Leibniz Center for AgriculturalLandscape Research(ZALF), Germany*Correspondence:Pil Joo Kimpjkim@gnu.ac.krSpecialty section:This article was submitted toTerrestrial Microbiology,a section of the journalFrontiers in MicrobiologyReceived: 30 August 2019Accepted: 12 November 2019Published: 26 November 2019Citation:Das S, Ho A and Kim PJ (2019)Editorial: Role of Microbes in ClimateSmart Agriculture.Front. Microbiol. 10:2756.doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2019.02756Editorial: Role of Microbes in ClimateSmart AgricultureSuvendu Das 1, Adrian Ho 2 and Pil Joo Kim 1,3*1 Institute of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju, South Korea, 2 Institut für Mikrobiologie,Leibniz Universität Hannover, Hanover, Germany, 3Division of Applied Life Science, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju,South KoreaKeywords: sustainable agriculture, greenhouse gas emissions and mitigation, C transformation and stability,extreme weather events, elevated CO2 and O3Editorial on the Research TopicRole of Microbes in Climate Smart AgricultureSoil microbes play an essential role in virtually all ecosystem processes, such that microbialabundance and activity determines the sustainable productivity of agricultural lands, ecosystemresilience against nutrient mining, degradation of soil and water resources, and GHG emissions(Wagg et al., 2014). Their activity is directly affected by changes in the environment. In thiscontext, climate change is a relevant factor, with the potential to affect the role of microbesin the soil, which is vital to support agriculture worldwide. Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) isan approach that can help to reduce these impacts. CSA is an integrative approach to developagricultural strategies for sustainably increasing agricultural productivity, adapting, and buildingresilience of agricultural and food security systems, and reducing agricultural greenhouse gasemissions under climate change scenarios (Lipper et al., 2014; Paustian et al., 2016). In this ResearchTopic, we aimed to provide the reader with a selection of studies to highlight novel experimentalconcepts such as process-oriented omics approaches with state-of-the-art technological advancesin agricultural science to better understand how consequences of climate change such as elevatedatmospheric CO2 concentration (eCO2), temperature, and drought affect soil microbes andassociated ecosystem processes. In addition, the role of microbes in agricultural managementthat contribute to climate change adaptation, GHG mitigation, and soil carbon storage hasbeen discussed.As two core issues of global climate change, the constant rise in atmospheric CO2 concentrationand temperature have significant influences on ecosystem functioning (Mueller et al., 2016). Ina study in semiarid grassland ecosystems, Yu et al. revealed the potential feedback responsemechanism of soil microbiome to multiple climate change factors by the decrease in N cyclingprocesses under warming, and increase in C and N cycling processes under either eCO2 alone orin interaction with warming. In the context of increasing global atmospheric CO2 concentration,grasslands behave as a potential C sink (Roy et al., 2016). Clipping (removal of aboveground plantbiomass) is a common practice in grassland ecosystems, and this practice may reduce nutrientinputs into soils (Garibaldi et al., 2007), which in turn may affect microbial functionality andby extension, other ecosystem services. Accordingly, Guo et al. concluded that annual clippingshifted functional communities and enhanced the relative abundance of genes related to labile andrecalcitrant C degradation with potential links to a clipping-induced acceleration of decompositionof C stored in grassland ecosystems.The impact of climate warming on soil C and N dynamics has recently received considerableinterest. Waghmode et al. revealed that climate warming and dried soil conditions remarkablyincreased the abundance of ammonia-oxidizing bacterial (AOB), concomitant to a reductionin the abundance of ammonia-oxidizing archaea and denitrifying bacteria, potentially affectingDas et al. Microbes for Climate-Smart Agriculturenitrogen turnover in the agro-ecosystem. The authors furthersuggested that, compared to regular irrigation (60mm), thehigh irrigation (90mm) overrode the warming effects on soilmicrobial community structure. The effects of extreme weatherevents on pathogen-antagonist interactions were evaluated in aperspective article by Meisner and de Boer. Extreme weatherevents like droughts or heavy precipitation are becoming morefrequent and affect agricultural ecosystems (e.g., plant healthand productivity). Soil-borne plant pathogens might become abigger problem if microbial antagonists in soils are more stronglyaffected by the extreme weather conditions than the pathogensand can thus not suppress pathogens in soils. Different strategiesof microorganisms to cope with water stress were discussed, andthe potential for controlling soil-borne plant pathogens throughenhancing growth of beneficial microorganisms under extremeweather conditions was highlighted in the perspective.CSA emphasizes developing agricultural strategies not onlyto protect food security under climate change but also tomitigate GHG emissions and to improve soil C sequestration(Lipper et al., 2014). Biochar (the C-rich solid formed bypyrolysis of biomass) amendment in agricultural soil has beenproposed as a way to abate climate change by sequestering Cand mitigating GHG (particularly N2O), while simultaneouslyincreasing the crop yield (Woolf et al., 2010; Jiang et al.,2019). In an innovative research, Wang et al. revealed that thebiochar predominately reduces CH4 and N2O emissions withhigh straw load, but not with low straw load, and this could bebecause biochar competes for electrons against methanogens andpromotes methanotrophs, nitrifiers and denitrifiers. Agriculturalintensification results in the enhanced re-investment of bio-based residues in agricultural soils, with consequences for GHGemissions (Ho et al., 2017). In this contest, Brenzinger et al.suggested that the combination of compost with one of themore nutrient-rich organic amendments such as sewage sludgedigestate provides a trade-off between sustaining crop yieldand reducing GHG emissions. Duan et al. documented thatthe application of catch crop residues leads to higher N2Oemissions, which could be due to net N mineralization andO2 depletion coupled with the residue degradation in organichotspots. The catch crop residue amendment can influence theN2O production, but not the genetic potential of the communityto produce and reduce N2O. Further, Mohanty et al. advocatedthat biogenic nitrate and microbial volatile organic compounds(mVOCs) could have positive feedback effects on the nitrificationrate in arable soils. To this end, Norton and Ouyang reviewed thestatus quo of the controlling factors and management practicesof soil nitrification. Management strategies to reduce N losses,improve N use efficiency, and mitigate global climate changewere recommended based on the latest understanding of thenitrification process.The Research Topic further focused on the potential use ofslag (byproducts generated during iron and steel manufacturing)fertilizer for sustainable agricultural production. Iron and steelproduction rose dramatically with the advent of the industrialrevolution, and the volume of slag produced outpaced itsconsumption. Slags are rich in fertilizer components and theiruse in agriculture holds great promise for sustainable and eco-friendly agriculture (Gwon et al., 2018; Das et al., 2019). Ina mini-review, Das et al. discussed the potential mechanismsof slag-microbe interactions in soil and how the interactionsinfluence crop yield, GHG emissions, soil carbon sequestration,and heavy metal stabilization in contaminated soils.CSA also emphasizes the sustainable development of livestockmanure production for mitigating CH4 emissions, since livestockproduction is a significant source of methane, mainly fromenteric fermentation, dairy farming operations, and manuremanagement (Laubach et al., 2015). In a study, Habtewoldet al. concluded that the acidified dairy slurry suppressedCH4 emissions, which could be due to the inhibition ofMethanosarcina species.The need for increased food production under CSAinterventions increasingly shifted the focus to the role of soilbiodiversity in general and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungiin particular. In a review, Sosa-Hernández et al. presented anoverview on the current knowledge of subsoil ecology withthe focus on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and theirpotential significance for a sustainable agriculture. Practices ofno-tillage, crop rotations, and cover cropping with deep rootingmycorrhizal plants may promote subsoil AM communities.A deep understanding of microbial ecology and soil–plant–microbe interactions in a changing climate scenariois essential to use microbial technology for climate changeadaptation and mitigation. This Research Topic contributes tothe understanding of how climate changes affect soil microbesand ecosystem processes, and how agricultural practices underCSA interventions shifted microbiome for climate changeadaptation, GHG mitigation, and soil C storage.AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONSSD wrote the first draft of the editorial. All authors editedthe editorial.REFERENCESDas, S., Gwon, H. S., Khan, M. I., Van Nostrand, J. D., Alam, M.A., and Kim, P. J. (2019). Taxonomic and functional responses ofsoil microbial communities to slag-based fertilizer amendment in ricecropping systems. Environ. Int. 127, 531–539. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2019.04.012Garibaldi, L. A., Semmartin, M., and Chaneton, E. J. (2007). Grazing-induced changes in plant composition affect litter quality and nutrientcycling in flooding Pampa grasslands. Oecologia 151, 650–662.doi: 10.1007/s00442-006-0615-9Gwon, H. S., Khan, M. I., Alam, M. A., Das, S., and Kim, P. J. (2018).Environmental risk assessment of steel-making slags and the potentialuse of LD slag in mitigating methane emissions and the grainarsenic level in rice (Oryza sativ L.). J. Hazard. Mater. 353, 236–243.doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2018.04.023Ho, A., Ijaz, U. Z., Janssens, T. K., Ruijs, R., Kim, S. Y., de Boer, W.,et al. (2017). Effects of bio-based residue amendments on greenhouse gasFrontiers in Microbiology | www.frontiersin.org 2 November 2019 | Volume 10 | Article 2756Das et al. Microbes for Climate-Smart Agricultureemission from agricultural soil are stronger than effects of soil type withdifferent microbial community composition. GCB Bioenergy 9, 1707–1720.doi: 10.1111/gcbb.12457Jiang, Z., Lian, F., Wang, Z., and Xing, B. (2019). The role of biochars in sustainablecrop production and soil resiliency. J. Exp. Bot. doi: 10.1093/jxb/erz301. [Epubahead of print].Laubach, J., Heubeck, S., Pratt, C., Woodward, K. B., Guieysse, B., van derWeerden, T. J., et al. (2015). Review of greenhouse gas emissions from thestorage and land application of farm dairy effluent. N. Z. J. Agric. Res. 58,203–233. doi: 10.1080/00288233.2015.1011284Lipper, L., Thornton, P., Campbell, B. M., Baedeker, T., Braimoh, A., Bwalya, M.,et al. (2014). Climate-smart agriculture for food security. Nat. Clim. Chang.4:1068. doi: 10.1038/nclimate2437Mueller, K. E., Blumenthal, D. M., Pendall, E., Carrillo, Y., Dijkstra, F. A.,Williams,D. G., et al. (2016). Impacts of warming and elevated CO2 on a semi-aridgrassland are non-additive, shift with precipitation, and reverse over time. Ecol.Lett. 19, 956–966. doi: 10.1111/ele.12634Paustian, K., Lehmann, J., Ogle, S., Reay, D., Robertson, G. P., and Smith, P. (2016).Climate-smart soils. Nature 532, 49–57. doi: 10.1038/nature17174Roy, J., Picon-Cochard, C., Augusti, A., Benot, M. L., Thiery, L., Darsonville, O.,and Escape, C. (2016). Elevated CO2 maintainsgrassland net carbon uptakeunder a future heat and drought extreme. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 113,6224–6229. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1524527113Wagg, C., Bender, S. F., Widmer, F., and van der Heijden,M. G. (2014). Soil biodiversity and soil communitycomposition determine ecosystem multifunctionality. Proc.Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 111, 5266–5270. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1320054111Woolf, D., Amonette, J. E., Street-Perrott, F. A., Lehmann, J., and Joseph, S. (2010).Sustainable biochar to mitigate global climate change. Nat. Commun. 1:56.doi: 10.1038/ncomms1053Conflict of Interest: The authors declare that the research was conducted in theabsence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as apotential conflict of interest.Copyright © 2019 Das, Ho and Kim. This is an open-access article distributedunder the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use,distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the originalauthor(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publicationin this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use,distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.Frontiers in Microbiology | www.frontiersin.org 3 November 2019 | Volume 10 | Article 2756

Editorial: Role of Microbes in Climate Smart Agriculture

https://www.repo.uni-hannover.de/bitstream/123456789/9881/1/fmicb-10-02756.pdf

Editorial: Role of Microbes in Climate Smart Agriculture

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Institutionelles Repositorium der Leibniz Universität Hannover