Environmental Microbial Health Under Changing Climates: State, Implication and Initiatives for High-Performance Soils

Abstract

Soil fertilitysoil fertilityand its productivity are the two pillars for maintaining agricultural output and it is a measure of soil performance. Growing concerns about climate changeClimate changehave recently focused on the fate of high-performance soilsHigh-performance soils. Soil biological health is an important aspect of agricultural productivity and a global concern due to its vulnerability to climate changeClimate changeimpacts. We reviewed the current knowledge on soil healthsoil healthrelated to organic carbonOrganic carbonand biological resources, particularly microorganisms and their effects on potential agricultural productivity. We critically reviewed the challenges associated with changing climate and outlined emerging technologies to help maintain high-performance soilsHigh-performance soils. Our main finding is the adverse impact of climate changeClimate changeon soil microbiota resulting in less than optimal soil functionality. Alteration of bacterial community composition and fungal colonisation patterns in the rhizosphere and soil-root interface cause suboptimal nutrient availability for plant growth. Several green and climatically benign soil amendmentsSoil amendmentscan be implemented to obtain high-performance soilsHigh-performance soilsunder extreme climatic conditions. Minerals and rocks, such as clay mineral, zeolite, mineral formulation, organic and biological inoculation could be helpful to maintain or enhance soil fertilitysoil fertilityparticularly in the event of soil warming and droughtDrought. Besides the traditional postulates on climate changesClimate change, we uncover further challenges such as chemical pollutants in the environmentChanging environmentsand important research areas to improve our understandings on climate change-driven soil productivitySoil productivity. The remedy to this is to probably adopt green and efficient technologies to enhance the soil productivitySoil productivityover limited non-renewable agricultural landscape.