A Critique of “Microbial diversity and soil functions” authored by P. Nannipieri, J.

Ascher,
MT. Ceccherini, L. Landi, G. Pietramellara and G. Renella

Subject: Soil 213 Lecturer: DMLumanao, PhD

Name: REYMART JADE B. GAVILEÑO Course & Year: MS SS-1
Date Submitted: Module No.:

Title

The article discoursed about the dynamic and multifaceted biological system, the soil, and

the hitches that hamper the amplification of the link between microbial diversity and soil functions.

The article’s title is very concise; however, depicts a broad idea. Moreover, it is notable that upon

reading the title, the leading question to the reader will be “what is microbial diversity and soil

functions all about?”, this gives the reader broad expectations on what is the article main agenda

given the title. Overall, the title is brief; however, expressing a complex idea.

Abstract/Summary

This article’s summary exceeds the limit of the number of characters/words for an ideal

summary of an article paper. However, quite considerable upon reading the richness of the context

of the paper and also it is obvious that the paper is not a research article, rather it is an intricate

review article about the established methods for deeper understanding of the relations between

genetic diversity and community structure and between community structure and function.

The structure and contents of the summary are also commendable as they discussed the

totality and the important contexts of the paper were organized in a clear manner, which gives the
reader a clear picture of the idea. As noticeable in the paper, the preliminary sentences of the

summary “Soil is a complex and dynamic biological system, (and so on…) The central problem

posed by the link between microbial diversity and soil function is to understand the relations

between genetic diversity and community structure and between community structure and

function.” define the focus of interest of the paper and the defined problem, which was clearly

outlined in the latter portion of the preliminaries of the summary. The following sentences up to

the concluding portion of the summary discussed the resolves of the problem, which detailly

defined by methods that correspond to the problem. Interestingly, the following sentences discuss

the advantages and disadvantages of the existing methods which depict the strength of the article.

The concluding part of the summary is quite hanging; however, it discussed the future research

direction of the study. Overall, the summary presented all important points of the article’s content

clear, concise, and well-organized which represents the whole paper in a nutshell.

Introduction, Research Question/Problem, and Hypothesis

Strength of introduction for comprehensive review articles bank on the originality of the

knowledge/idea, the relevant background information that helps the reader understand what was

studied, and why it was studied, which would drive the reader’s interest in the clear purpose of

finding out the hypotheses’ answers. The introduction of this article clearly stated the relevant

matters about the main agenda of the article, to quote “There is now a growing body of

experimental evidence that most organisms are functionally redundant (and so on…)”, and there

rise the deduction of the author to the so-called ‘insurance hypothesis’ (Loreau et al., 2001). The

following texts revealed the ‘why’ of this article, to quote “However, our theories on terrestrial

ecosystems have been developed from above-ground observations, whereas comparatively few
studies have been made in soil (Wardle & Giller, 1996; Ohtonen et al., 1997; Griffiths et al., 2000).

The links between biodiversity and soil functioning are therefore poorly understood”. This depicts

a logical and reasonable concept for the introduction of this article.

The preceding part of the introduction discussed the ‘what’ of the article review and

appropriately with supporting relevant background. Moreover, this latter portion of the

introduction clearly defines their considerations to provide a comprehensive view of the complex

relations between microbial diversity and soil functionality, which brought the reader to the whole

picture of the article or what the article will be discussing all about for the rest of the paragraph.

Overall, this portion of the article was commendable. More importantly, the essential idea of the

review article was distinct, comprehensible, straightforward, and appropriately defined with

relevant background.

Theoretical Base (Review of Literature)

A comprehensive review article requires comprehensive pertinent literature and up-to-date

as possible. As seen, the section of this review article was written off as in subtopics namely,

(a)Soil as microhabitat (b)Definition and measurement of microbial diversity, (c)Microbial

diversity in soil; (d)Definition and measurement of microbial diversity; (e)Microbial

diversity in soil; (f)Microbial and biochemical functions in soil; (g)Microbial diversity and

soil functions; and (h)The holistic approach and soil functioning. Noticeably, the content of

each subtopic was discussed comprehensively and was very particular with the literature cited.

Some literature may seem outdated; however, relevant. The context of each subtopic conformed

with the considerations that lead to answering the defined problem of this review article, which

was discussed in the introduction section. The illustrations/graphs used were also logical and
corresponds to the statements. Methods for microbial diversity measurement concerning soil

functions were discussed inclusive with defined advantages and disadvantages. This depicts the

strength of this review article since it implies the impartiality of facts or ideas. However, it can be

observed that given the extensive evidence discussed, someway, it doesn’t suffice to fully

understand the relations between genetic diversity and community structure and between

community structure and function. Unequivocal, the laid-out evidence was very significant and

propositions for the future research directions of the said concept were overwhelming.

Overall, this section is very informative and significantly relevant to the problem.

Moreover, notions were discussed extensively and impartial. Lastly, rich future research direction

is also the strength of this section.

Conclusion & references

This review article’s conclusion implies that due to constraints in measuring microbial

diversity, understanding of the links between microbial diversity and soil functions is poor.

However, paradoxically, the author also implies the determination of the composition of microbial

communities in the soil can be unnecessary for a better understanding of soil functions according

to the literature been cited. In the latter portion of the conclusion, repudiation on the use of new

technologies involving nutrient dynamics concerning the link between microbial diversity and soil

functions were discussed.

As observed, this section clearly described the drawn conclusion for the problem based on

the comprehensive evidence discussed in the previous section of the article, and this suggests the

importance of this review article. Further, the conclusion was presented concise and very relevant

to the hypothesis and to the considerations applied in finding out the facts that support the
hypothesis. Overall, the conclusion was written correct based on the standards in writing a

conclusion. Further, the discussion is not redundant to the previous section of the article. Lastly,

the article’s conclusion does suggest future research directions involving the use of various new

techniques for the development of a better understanding of the relationship between microbial

diversity and soil function; moreover, to understand the relations between genetic diversity and

community structure and between community structure and function.

As for the references, it is noticeable that the direct quotations of the references have

followed the APA style (APA 2000), which is an internationally recognized standard in citing

references in the text. Also, the Literature cited or ‘References’ as used in this article, were written

in the same standard of writing, thus, this article’s section is written correctly.

Personal Reaction

This article is very rich in information particularly on the techniques for the measurement

of microbial diversity. Moreover, this article is very useful and very technical in the sense that this

can be a good resource for researches involving soil microbiology. However, details of each

method require a more detailed description for better understanding and use of the

techniques/methods. As for the writing technicalities of the paper, it is very commendable given

that the clear picture of the article was articulated correctly and comprehensively discussed with

relevant backgrounds/literature. Overall, in my perspective, this article can be considered as a

breakthrough and good founding knowledge to soil microbiology and it also provides future

developments to research.