MICROBIAL ECOLOGY AND

PLANT GROWTH

SES-517 3(3-0)

Dr. Muhammad Imran Khan

Assistant Professor

Institute of Soil and Environmental Sciences

University of Agriculture, Faisalabad
 Microbial Ecology (ME)

ME is the study of the properties & behaviour of

microorganisms (MO) in their environment (soil or
water)

Soil Microbial Ecology (SME)

SME is the study of the properties & behaviour of MO

in their soil environment
 Possible intentions to study SME
• We seek to understand how soil physical & chemical
properties & organismal interactions influence the
microbially mediated processes that drive soil ecosystems

• Due to different interactions b/w physicochemical &

biological properties of soil, many different approaches
can be used to study soil microbial ecology

• We may wish to identify the soil properties that determine

the rate of a specific microbially mediated process in
different soil types
• Alternatively, microbially mediated processes as such
may not be our primary concern

• We might be more interested in determining if different

soil management practices influence the overall
composition of the soil microbial community

• These changes in community composition might then be

correlated with the suitability of the soil for crop
production or waste treatment

• We might wish to identify how one member of a bacterial

soil population can prevent a specific plant pathogen
from infecting a crop species
Nature of soil organisms & their interactions

• Many kinds of organisms spend all, or at least a part, of

their lives in the soil

• These include plants, animals, fungi, bacteria, & viruses

• Most soils contain high populations of MO, with nutritional

versatility and fast metabolism as the distinctive features of
many (but not all) bacteria and fungi
 Nature of soil organisms & their
interactions…continue
• These nutritional & metabolic characteristics permit MO to
play major roles in decomposing organic materials &
returning essential plant nutrients to the soil

• Nevertheless, it is difficult for MO to achieve their metabolic

potential in the soil matrix

• Accessing nutrients is a major problem for soil MO because

soil is a discontinuous matrix of vast surface area

• Despite the seemingly high densities of MO, it has been

estimated that only less than 0.4% of soil pore space is
occupied by MO
 Nature of soil organisms & their
interactions…continue
• Mostly pore diameters in soil aggregates are less than 2
µm in size, so particulate substrates in these voids are
inaccessible to all but the smallest microbes

• Bioavailability of hydrophobic substrates is limited by

adsorption to soil surfaces, whereas diffusion of soluble
substrates is limited by the lack of continuous water-filled
pores

• Most bacteria possess a unicellular growth habit that

restricts their ability to efficiently colonize massive, solid,
low surface area-to-volume food sources (e.g., plant
residues) and prevents them from moving effectively
between spatially separated food sources
 Nature of soil organisms & their
interactions…continue

• Because of their small size, bacteria & many smaller fungi

occupy micropores that physically exclude the larger
organisms that prey upon them

• Limits on substrate availability must be avoided to

effectively proceed decomposition of organic materials &
to move nutrients along the soil food chain from MO into
the higher trophic levels

• Highly branched nature of a plant's root system & the

mycelia of fungi are examples of a spreading growth habit
that permits access to spatially separated food sources
 Nature of soil organisms & their
interactions…continue
• Many fungi & soil animals possess the mobility or mass,
or both, to physically disrupt both the structure of soil &
its massive nutrient sources

• These activities avoid some of the substrate

bioavailability problems by permitting bacteria & fungi to
gain access to & more efficiently colonize & decompose
their nutrient sources

• Moreover, they enable predators to gain access to their

microbial prey
 Influence of plants on soil organisms

• Plant life is the primary energy source that drives terrestrial

soil ecosystems

There are many interactions

• As soils contain low concentrations of biologically available

mineral nutrients, terrestrial plants need large root systems
to access a sufficient volume of the soil to obtain an
adequate supply of essential minerals & water

• As a consequence, plant roots provide a supply of

relatively labile organic compounds to MO in their
immediate vicinity (i.e., the rhizosphere effect)
 Influence of plants on soil organisms
…continue
• Total volume of soil influenced by plant roots is
considerable

• Approximately, 30% to 90% of fine roots ( <1 mm in

diameter) in forest soils are turned over annually &
provide at least as much organic material to soil
organisms as does leaf fall

• Superiority of the rhizosphere for microbial growth is

illustrated by the 10- to 100-fold higher population
densities of MO closely associated with plant roots than in
the surrounding soil
 Influence of plants on soil organisms
…continue
• As a consequence of the greater microbial productivity
near roots, populations of bacterial & fungal predators,
such as protozoa & nematodes, also thrive in the
rhizosphere, as do their predators, the micro arthropods

• Role of plants in driving a soil food chain, the movement

of nutrients from one type of organism to another, can
also be illustrated at the soil surface

• Leaf fall & plant death deposit huge quantities of plant

material at the soil surface
 Influence of plants on soil organisms
…continue
• Greatest percentage of this plant residue is located in
physically resilient, low surface area-to-volume structures
such as leaves, stems, twigs & branches

• Mobile soil animals, such as micro arthropods &

earthworms, improve the efficiency of microbial
decomposition of the large plant debris by increasing its
surface area-to-volume ratio through their shredding
activities & by distributing the debris throughout the soil
volume

• Burrowing activity of moles & other earthworm predators

causes further disturbance of the soil environment
 Influence of plants on soil organisms
…continue

• These activities result in the redistribution of mineral

nutrients & organic matter throughout the soil volume &
create more uniform microbial activity & population
growth
 Growth characteristics of soil MO

• Microbial growth (MG) is essential for soil ecosystem

function

• MG in soil is transitory (short-lived) & depends on the

availability of nutrients & adequate physicochemical
conditions
Growth characteristics of soil MO… continue

• Different scenarios of nutrient availability occur in soil &, as

a result, different growth strategies are required

• For example, under dry surface soil conditions,

biodegradable nutrients (fecal material, animal & microbial
corpses, plant residues, seeds, & fruits) might accumulate
because there is insufficient water to support microbial
activity

• Upon the return of water, a "flush" of rapid microbial growth

occurs
Growth characteristics of soil MO… continue

• This scenario of transient (short-lived), luxuriant nutrient

availability in the dry soil can be contrasted with the
rhizosphere where a more consistent supply of nutrients
is available or with the large pool of less labile soil
organic matter, or humus, which can be digested only by
MO equipped with the enzymes necessary to attack these
complex substrates
Growth characteristics of soil MO… continue

• So, each environment provides MO with an opportunity to

express their individual growth characteristics & to
compete for nutrients with whatever unique attributes they
can bring to bear on the problem (such as substrate
versatility, fast growth potential & production of
antimicrobial compounds)
 Microbial growth

• Under favourable environmental conditions of initially

non-limiting nutrients, microbial growth proceeds
through various phases shown in figure
 Microbial growth…continue

Lag phase:
• Bacteria are first introduced into an environment or media
• Bacteria are “checking out” their surroundings
• Cells are very active metabolically
• # of cells changes very little
• 1 hour to several days
Log phase:
• Rapid cell growth (exponential growth)
• Population doubles every generation
• Microbes are sensitive to adverse conditions
– Antibiotics
– Anti-microbial agents
 Microbial growth…continue

Stationary phase:
• Death rate = rate of reproduction
• Cells begin to encounter environmental stress
– Lack of nutrients
– Lack of water
– Not enough space
– Metabolic wastes
– Oxygen
– pH
 Microbial growth…continue

Death phase:
• Death rate > rate of reproduction
• Due to limiting factors in the environment

• During the unlimited growth phase, cell numbers

increase exponentially or double per constant interval of
time. This time interval is referred to as doubling time,
or generation time (often abbreviated as td)
Microbial growth…continue
 Microbial growth…continue

• Time taken by a microbial population to double its

original population during un-limited growth phase is
referred to as doubling time, or generation time
 Microbial growth…continue

• Some bacteria can achieve amazingly short generation

times ( 1 hour) when nutrients are non-limiting

• As a result, they can generate populations of

astronomical proportions in short periods of time

• Soil conditions are rarely conducive for unlimited growth

• Most microbial growth in soil probably occurs under

substrate-limited conditions, & for long periods of time
MO exist in a state of starvation-induced dormancy