Sustainable Management of Soil Microbial Communities in the Genomic Age: Seeing the Forest Amidst the Trees.

Soil is a key component of the planet’s biogeochemical balance, and many of our society’s sustainability challenges in the 21^st century will depend on our ability to effectively manage the structure and function of soil microbial communities. Recycling of human and animal wastes will become increasingly important to maintain agricultural production while minimizing the energy costs, environmental impacts, and potential scarcity issues associated with current fertilizer production/use. The shift towards treating “waste” recycling as resource recovery will require that microbiological risks, including emerging pathogens (e.g., antibiotic resistance), are effectively defined and mitigated. Land management practices, including amendment strategies (e.g., biochar), to enhance carbon sequestration and minimize greenhouse gas emissions will be an important part of the climate change response “tool box”.  Modern molecular tools have greatly increased our insight into the microbial richness of our planet; the translation of this knowledge into improved management of microbial communities should be a primary focus of current and future research.  The realization that a gram of soil may contain thousands of different species of bacteria speaks to Christoph Weiland’s quote  that “Too much light often blinds gentlemen of this sort. They cannot see the forest for the trees." Our ability not to be blinded by the light of such tremendous diversity depends on our ability to develop effective conceptual models for predicting the behavior of these complex adaptive systems. This talk will will explore the current state of this conceptual knowledge both with respect to  reductionist and holistic models.