ABSTRACT
Microorganisms found in the soil are vital to many of the ecological processes that sustain life, such as nutrient cycling, decay of plant matter, consumption and production of trace gases, and transformation of metals (Panikov, 1999). Although climate change studies often focus on
Abstract 443 18.1 Introduction 444 18.2 Greenhouse gas emissions by microbial control 445
Carbon dioxide gas 445 Nitrous oxide gas 447 Methane gas 448 Reducing CO2 emissions by microbial
communities 448 Reducing CH4 emissions by microbial
communities 450 Reducing N2O emissions by microbial
communities 451 Soil-borne pathogens and climate change 451 Indirect climate-microbe feedbacks 452 Future perspectives and wrapping up 452
References 454
life at the macroscopic scale, microbial processes can signicantly shape the effects that global climate change has on terrestrial ecosystems. According to the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report (2007), warming of the climate system is occurring at unprecedented rates and an increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations is responsible for most of this warming. Soil microorganisms contribute signicantly to the production and consumption of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O) and nitric oxide (NO), and human activities such as waste disposal and agriculture have stimulated the production of greenhouse gases by microbes.
