Science of the Total Environment 634 (2018) 49 50

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Science of the Total Environment

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/scitoten

Short Communication

Soil microbial biomass: A key soil driver in management of

ecosystem functioning
Jay Shankar Singh a,⁎, Vijay Kumar Gupta b
a
Department of Environmental Microbiology, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar (Central) University, Raebarelly Road, Lucknow 226025, Uttar Pradesh, India b Department of
Chemistry and Biotechnology, ERA Chair of Green Chemistry, School of Science, Tallinn University of Technology, Akadeemia tee 15, 12618 Tallinn, Estonia

HIGHLIGHTS GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

• Soil microbial biomass as a key ecological

driver has been described.
• Soil microbial diversity and biomass play key
roles in the ecosystem services. • Soil micro-
flora N uptake is an adaptation for short-term
storage of N in terrestrial ecosystems.
• Soil microbial biomass is key ecological driver
in rehabilitation of degraded lands.

article info abstract

Article history: Although patterns of microbial diversity and biomass have been described and reviewed at local and regional scales, a
Received 28 February 2018 unifying driver, or set of environmental drivers affecting soil microbial biomass (SMB) pattern at global level is still missing.
Received in revised form 30 March 2018 Biomass of soil microbial community, known as SMB is considered widely as the index of soil fertility and ecosystem
Accepted 30 March 2018 Available productivity. The escalating soil stresses due to land degradation and climatic variability are directly correlated with loss of
online xxxx microbial diversity and abundance or biomass dynamics. Therefore, alleviating soil stresses on microbial communities with
ecological restoration could reduce the unpredictability and turnover rates of SMB. Thus, the key ecological factors which
Editor: Frederic Coulon stabilize the SMB and minimize its turnover, are sup-

Keywords: posed to play an important role in the soil nutrient dynamics and productivity of the ecosystems. Because of the existing
Land degradation public concern about the deleterious impacts of ecosystem degradation, there is an increasing interest in improving the
Environmental drivers Microbial understanding of SMB, and the way, it contributes to restoration and functioning of ecosystems.
community © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Soil microbial biomass

1. Microbial biomass under different ecological regimes and https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.03.373 0048-9697/©

ecosystem types
Functioning of ecosystems rely on the flux of chemical signals,
carbon, and nutrients across the trophic levels, mainly mediated by
⁎ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: jayshankar_1@yahoo.co.in (J.S. Singh).
2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
microbial interactions in the soil-plant-animal food web
(Seneviratne, 2015). Soil microbial diversity and abundance/biomass
play key roles in the ecosystem sustainability by maintaining
essential functions of soil health, through carbon and nutrient
turnover. Even after disturbances, an ecosystem with a higher
microbial diversity and biomass may have a higher capacity to
sustain the ecological processes through microbiological buffering.

498 J.S. Singh, V.K. Gupta / Science of the Total Environment 634 (2018) 497–500
There is now increasing evidence that aboveground (plant litter geographic distributions (N2-fixing rhizobia in tropical forests and
quantity and quality) and belowground (soil microbial flora and mycorrhizae in boreal temperate forests) it is suggested that
fauna diversity) are key drivers that play fundamental roles in variations in the size of SMB can impact to variability of the
controlling ecosystem processes and stability (Wardle et al., 2004). functioning of various ecosystem types.
However, understanding ecological linkages between aboveand The rise in unpredictable climate shift and anthropogenic
belowground abiotic and biotic (including SMB) attributes is still a perturbations are the critical drivers to regulate the existence and
key challenge for our knowledge on the stability and functioning of survival of indigenous microbial diversity, and consequently, the
ecosystem processes. Therefore, given the importance of SMB essential soil functioning of the ecosystem. The macroclimate,
dynamics in defining ecosystem properties, the understanding as to topography and soil quality (pH, organic C and N, moisture, etc.)
how SMB respond to unexpected rise in biotic and abiotic drivers are the key drivers in controlling SMB dynamics across different
and loss of plant species diversity seems a research priority that ecosystems and locations (Wardle, 1992). The temporal dynamics
would shed light on the performance of diverse ecosystems. of SMB is likely to be the key factor in determining the extent of
Among the various ecological drivers, microbes (N2-fixers, release of immobilized labile nutrients due to microbial cell
Psolubilizers, growth hormone producers, etc.) and their SMB pools deaths, and the availability of nutrients released crucial to plant
may be considered as major ecological impetus in controlling the growth and ecosystem functioning (Wardle, 1998). The factors
diverse ecosystem functions globally (Table 1). Soil carbon (C) and that provide viability to the soil microbial community therefore,
nitrogen (N) together with phosphorus (P) and soil pH are the key are assumed to enhance soil nutrient conservation in the form of
drivers that may limit the functioning of various nutrient deprived higher SMB size owing to the reduced release of immobilized
ecosystems (Bru et al., 2011; Carnicer et al., 2015). In strongly soil N nutrients. While studying the effect of climatic disturbances on
deprived ecosystems such as Arctic and Alpine Tundra and ecosystem types, we may expect SMB to have lesser temporal
Temperate forests, nutrients release after soil micro-flora (SMB) variability owing to lesser disturbances.
death has been pointed out as an important source of plant nutrient N Along a large geographical area, climate variability, land use
(van der Heijden et al., 2008). So, it is suggested that uptake of N by types and the dominant vegetation composition might be the key
soil micro-flora might be an adaptation that may have developed for factors for SMB variability across different ecosystem types.
short-term storage of N in several terrestrial ecosystems, thus Differences in the quantity and quality of substrate (organic C and
reducing the loss of N from the soil of nutrient poor ecosystems. It is N) inputs caused by varying plant residue types (litter and fine
also important to mention here that the chemical composition of plant roots) and the associated nutrient specificity can be crucial drivers
residues (litter and fine roots) from diverse plant species in an to influence the SMB across the ecosystem types. Thus, the higher
ecosystem could be unpredictable and therefore, different microbial SMB in soil of scrub stand than other ecosystems might be
communities might be evolved to decay and decompose the variety attributed mainly to the greater availability of organic matter via
of litter types. As many microbial communities have restricted bio- vegetation cover with giant plant species. However, in case the
temporal data on SMB from different ecosystems across
Table 1 Tropical forests Nitrifying and denitrifying Indirectly reduce plant
Microbes as key ecological drivers regulating functioning of diverse bacteria productivity because about
ecosystems. 50% of available soil N is
Source: van der Heijden et al. (2008) Ecol. Lett. 11: 296–310. lost from the ecosystem by
Ecosystem type Microbes Microbial functions nitrification and denitrification
processes
Tropical savannah, some Symbiotic, free living and Support plant productivity by
grasslands and tropical endophytic N-fixing bacteria
the globe were quantitatively analyzed, more persistent and less
supplying different limiting
forests nutrients (N) to the plants. disturbed ecosystems had higher SMB values than the most
Endophytes enhance growth disturbed one (Wardle, 1998), though the temporal variability of
and competitive ability of different ecosystem types was substantially comparable. This
their host plants.
indicates that temporal SMB variability is solely governed by the
dominant vegetation and land use type, but the nutrient turnover
Deserts and boreal forests N-fixing cyanobacteria Contribute to the N economy
of ecosystems via N cycling along with other edaphic factors can be more effective than those
and accumulation under in regulating the temporal SMB variability. However, it is
extremely limited N2 suggested that shifts in plant species composition during land use
situations. Helps in degradedchange, can influence the microbial community composition
land restoration.
dynamics and SMB basically by changing soil organic nutrient
Tropical, temperate and Arbuscular mycorrhizal Enhanced P uptake of host
status (Zhang et al., 2016). But it is still unclear as to why SMB is
boreal forests, grassland (AM), Ectomycorrhizal (EM) plant species when plant not so responsive to large-scale disturbance regimes, such as
and savannah and Ericoid mycorrhizal productivity is strongly invasions of alien species into new territories, climate change due
ecosystems (ERM) fungi limited by P availability. to atmospheric CO2 elevation, greater soil nitrogen deposition and
Provide resistance to plants
against diseases, drought andland use changes (Wardle et al., 2004), and therefore, further
other environmental stresses studies in this regard, will enhance our understanding about
in nutrient poor and degradedtemporal microbial community compositions and biomass
ecosystems.
variability.
Natural ecosystems P-solubilizing bacteria May constitute up to 40% of Although nutrient status, seasonality, soil factors, temperature,
the cultivable population of
and other factors, are important drivers to control functioning of
soil bacteria.
dry tropical forest ecosystem, SMB could be one of the vital
However, significance of
bacteria in natural ecosystemsfactors affecting productivity in the tropical dry deciduous forests,
is still in enigma and further as observed in the Vindhyan plateau (Singh et al., 2010). In India,
studied are still warranted. the previous investigations regarding SMB across the tropical dry
deciduous forest ecosystems have been conducted by selecting
only one or the other sites on a temporal scale, and without
deciphering differences in SMB status and its role in
distribution and variations of the dominant vegetation
composition. It may be hypothesized that alterations in soil
properties due to land uses and anthropogenic activities
would correspond to differences in the SMB size and
turnover rates and consequently, to loss of vegetation
cover and ecosystem productivity. However, the
experimental evidence for such arguments is still
warranted.
In nutrient poor ecosystems, SMB acts as the major
reservoir of available nutrients, and plays very crucial
roles in the survival of plants (Singh et al., 2016a, 2016b;
Vimal et al., 2017). In the dry tropical deciduous forest
ecosystem, nutrient withdrawal from the senescing leaves
J.S. Singh, V.K. Gupta / Science of the Total Environment 634 (2018) 497–500
and its immobilization in the SMB has been considered as
the nutrient conserving adaptations in response to nutrient
paucity, and thus SMB constitutes the key available
nutrient source for the survival of plant communities
(Singh et al., 2010; Singh, 2015a, 2015b). The conversion
of forest into cropland and savanna due to plant harvesting
may result a significant alterations in the size of SMB.
Since, plant diversity is a key driver in controlling SMB
(Thakur et al., 2015); any alterations in the soil properties
due to deforestation may have significant impact on SMB
stability and its turnover rates. As plant biodiversity is
projected to decline in response to global environmental
change factors, we can also expect indirect effects of key
environmental drivers on SMB status via alterations in
plant community compositions. The increasing demand of
agricultural land accelerates deforestation and
consequently disturbances in SMB trends had been noted.
Although deforestation is a common practice for the
generation of agricultural managed landuse systems,
afforestation has become a much discussed topic in recent
years (Singh et al., 2010). Therefore, we suggest that long-
term investigations should be conducted on the SMB
patterns, a sensitive nutrient pool that may respond to
plant diversity loss compared to other environmental
drivers.
2. Microbial biomass in restoration of degraded
land soil
productivity
Restoration ecology, a somewhat new thrust research
area, still needs rigorous explorations to achieve
satisfactory results (Calmon et al., 2011). As the changing
global climate is one of the major environmental
challenges today, there is an urgent need to restore the
huge degraded land area to make it cultivable for the
overall sustainable agroenvironmental development. Size
of SMB can provide one of the most satisfactory estimates of the
productivity of any restored degraded land (do Couto et al.,
2016). A lower ratio of SMB to the total soil organic nutrients
seems to indicate good strength of degraded land rehabilitation.
Consequently, the ratio of SMB to the total organic nutrients may
be considered as a reliable parameter for the success of degraded
land rehabilitation. The re-established SMB status and its
dynamics under prevailing environmental drivers may provide
valuable information about the restoration progress and
productivity potential of derived lands for agriculture purposes.
SMB, an important driver of ecosystem functioning, may be
considered as the sensitive key biological indicator of perturbations
owing to soil disturbances (Zornoza et al., 2009). Research practices
on degraded land restoration, have mainly focused on the
499
aboveground features with lesser emphasis on the belowground soil
microbial processes and the patterns of SMB, which could play a
vital role in productivity of the derived ecosystems. The soil
microbial properties between degraded and restored lands have been
compared (Bini et al., 2013; Singh, 2016), but the knowledge about
key environmental drivers influencing the patterns of SMB and
microbial community structure during restoration, is still limited.
Therefore, the study of SMB patterns and its relationship to climate
and soil drivers can enhance our understanding in rehabilitation of
land uses like vast waste lands (e.g. spoiled coal mine areas). It is
suggested that during restoration programs, the belowground
microbial activities and their biomass development and responses
must be considered in implementation. It is proposed that restoration
practices with mixed plant species having high biomass producing
potential, can contribute to speedy recovery of lost microbial
diversity and SMB turnovers (Singh, 2013; Araujo et al., 2013;
Singh, 2014). The fast recovery of microbial communities and SMB
size due to mixed plantations cover (Lange et al., 2015) compared to
the monoculture plantations can help in the returning of the huge
bulk of diverse types of plantderived resources (leaf litter, fine root
biomass, root exudates or rhizodeposits) and favorable soil
conditions. In view of these, it is recommended that plant species
having high biomass production efficiency, and favoring the
establishment of beneficial microbial (mycorrhizae and nitrogen-
fixers) associations, should preferably be selected during restoration
programs.
Speedy recovery of soil productivity on the deforested area can
be achieved by afforestation of mixed plantations in association with
suitable bio-inoculants, which can be a good microbial “booster” to
enhance the SMB and ecosystem productivity (Fig. 1). The
inoculation of suitable bio-fertilizers along with mixed plantations,
not only increases the population of the microbial strains inoculated,
but also enhances diversity and abundance of microbes native to the
soil, through dormancy breaking of their quiescent viable spores
developed in response to environmental stresses (Seneviratne and
Kulasooriya, 2013; Singh and Strong, 2016). Thus, a combination of
mixed plantation, stress-tolerant bio-
 Re-vegetation of degraded land
Degraded land
Microbial flora
and fauna
Plant litters
Root exudates
Soil microbial biomass
Solubilization
Dissolved organic matter
Decomposition
Nutrient immobilization
Fig. 1. Schematic representation showing contribution of soil microbial biomass as source of plant available nutrients to agro- and forest ecosystems. 500
J.S. Singh, V.K. Gupta / Science of the Total Environment 634 (2018) 497–500
inoculants, and organic amendments in restoration of the degraded
lands may offer a tripartite association to augment soil nutrient
turnovers and consequently to reinstate productivity of stressed
ecosystems. However, it should be kept in mind that addition of
microbial inoculants into new territories may greatly affect soil plant-
microbe interactions, especially when the new microbial species has
vastly different physiological behaviours from the indigenous micro-
flora. No information is available on how addition of exotic soil
microbial inoculants in association with re-vegetation of degraded
lands can influences the exiting native soil micro-biota, although
these effects should be strongest when the alien microbial inoculants
has functional attributes that are not compatibles to the indigenous
microbial species. In our opinion, the future research on SMB
turnovers as affected by the key ecological drivers and its correlation
with the ecosystem functioning holds potential as the complementary
criteria for evaluating the rehabilitation progress in restoration
ecology.
3. Conclusions
Besides the importance of physico-chemical and biological
processes to maintain soil health, SMB may be the ‘keystone’
biological driver of ecosystem functioning. Loss of beneficial
microbial diversity and SMB associated to land use changes and
erratic climate shifts, are the major reasons for deterioration of soil
fertility and ecosystem productivity. Therefore, researches related to
plant-microbe-soil associations to combat problems of soil
degradation need to be performed in greater depth. Today, it is the
utmost need to maintain soil health and productivity with emphasis
on restoration of vast area of the degraded lands using efficient
biomass producing novel plant species and microbial inoculants.
Finally, SMB is concluded to be an important index for the soil
health and environmental sustainability.
Acknowledgement
Crop land Forest ecosystem
Nutrient
uptake by
plants and
soil
&
micro-flora
Available nutrients
Mineralization
JSS is thankful to Head, Department of Environmental
Microbiology, BBA University, Lucknow, India for providing all
kind of supports and the infrastructure facilities.
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