Session: Impacts of Microbial Carbon Transformations on Soil Health

Division: SSSA Division: Soil Biology and Biochemistry

Title: Impacts of Microbial Carbon Transformations on Soil Health

Lead Community Sponsor:
Cosponsor: SSSA Division: Soil Mineralogy, SSSA Division: Soil Fertility and Plant Nutrition
Community Cosponsor:
Format: Oral Topical Session
Keywords:

Session Description: Modern understanding of soil health places a strong emphasis on promoting soil organic carbon content. Carbon content as a metric of soil health thus underpins current efforts in low-input agriculture such as organic and permaculture systems. In practice, however, managing soil carbon can be a difficult and inconsistent process, and complicated by climate change. The purpose of this session is to demonstrate how microbial interactions between organic matter and mineral surfaces determine the nature and retention of soil carbon. This session also aims to demonstrate new methods for discovery of soil carbon transformation processes and their response to climate change.