It is well known that microbial community composition is rich and diverse across a broad range of soil, habitat, vegetation, and management conditions, but extraordinarily little is known about the functional role of these organisms in soil. In this regard, proteins, transcripts, potential and realized enzyme activities, isotope incorporation studies, and other functional measurements will play a crucial role in the microbial ecologist’s quest to understand and manage soil microbial processes in a diverse soil environment. This symposium examines connections among microbial function, soil processes and environmental drivers.

S03 Soil Biology & Biochemistry