Microbes Help To Drive Global Carbon Cycling and Climate Change

Microbes are integral to global carbon cycling, directly and indirectly affecting atmospheric carbon levels that, in turn, further drive global climate change, according to an array of researchers who spoke in Boston during the 2014 ASM General Meeting. In most cases, photosynthetic microbes remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, converting this gas into biomass or helping plants to do so. However, heterotrophic microbes in soils and in the sea can help to produce greenhouse gases by decomposing organic matter. The balance between these opposing processes determines net carbon flux, and varies from one ecosystem to another and with climate conditions such as temperature. Microbial responses are a key but only partly understood component of carbon flux for the planet.