ABSTRACT
Soil microorganisms (bacteria, archaea, fungi, and viruses) and their ecological interactions are at the center of many of the ecosystem services provided by soil, which include controlling greenhouse gas fluxes, biogeochemical cycling of carbon and nutrients, and biological nitrogen fixation. This chapter discusses basic microbial metabolism and describes the main groups of soil microorganisms based on their morphology, and carbon and energy needs. Modern nucleic acid-based methods of quantifying and describing soil microbial communities are described. Lastly, the ecological interactions among soil organisms within the soil foodweb and how these affect microbial community dynamics and the flow of C, energy, and nutrients are discussed.
