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The microbial habitat in soil: Scale, heterogeneity and functional consequences
Author(s) -
Nunan Naoise
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of plant nutrition and soil science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.644
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1522-2624
pISSN - 1436-8730
DOI - 10.1002/jpln.201700184
Subject(s) - habitat , ecology , microbial population biology , microbial ecology , environmental science , biology , bacteria , genetics
The microbial habitat is rarely studied in soil microbial ecology even though microbial cells are exposed and adapt to their local environmental conditions. The physical environment also constrains interactions among organisms. The nature of microbial communities and their functioning can only be fully understood if their habitat is accounted for. Here, I describe the soil microbial habitat and show how our understanding of microbial functioning has been shaped by this line of investigation.