What are the potential impacts of climate change on microbial communities and of microbes in improving environmental quality?
Warming and physical changes to soil can affect nutrient availability and cycling by microbes, which will have unknown cascading effects on the environment. Microorganisms consume and produce the key greenhouse gases CO2, CH4, and N2O, which contribute to global warming. Increased levels of CO2 also induce the reproduction of microbes, resulting in excessive consumption of the nutrient, as well as iron and phosphorus, which are not abundantly found in the oceans. Carbon dioxide can also affect the biodiversity of keystone microbial species of the ocean ecosystem. Microbes are integral in food production. Some soil microbe’s aid in plant growth via their role in soil protection and fertilization, while others are destroyers of food, crops and livestock, and still others are direct producers of food through fermentation. As the temperature increases microbial community structures are altered and processes like respiration, fermentation, and methanogenesis are also accelerated.
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