Functional Terrestrial Microbiomes: Bridging Ecology and Application in Managed Landscapes

The terrestrial microbiome harbors a wide variety of microbial communities, including bacteria, archaea, and fungi. It encompasses not only soil microbes but also those associated with plants, dryland ecosystems, biological soil crusts, and other land-based substrates. Although research in this area has progressed significantly, the optimal utilization of microbiomes in sustainable agriculture, ecosystem restoration, and resilience is shifting from a developing idea to a field of active innovation. Sustainable agriculture ensures food security, supports ecosystem protection, reduces climate impacts, and improves economic viability. Ecosystem restoration strategies help recover biodiversity, minimize climate-related risks, prevent environmental degradation, and promote overall ecosystem health. Ecological resilience, in contrast, describes the capacity of an ecosystem to withstand disturbance, adjust to changing conditions, and sustain essential functions over time.Over the past two decades, researchers surveying terrestrial microbiomes across agroecosystems, arable lands, drylands, and other managed landscapes have demonstrated that these systems harbor enormous biodiversity, including bacteria, archaea, and fungi. While substantial progress has been made in identifying who is there, the next critical question is understanding what these organisms are doing and how this knowledge can be effectively managed, manipulated, and applied. Addressing this challenge has become a central goal for microbial ecologists and the broader scientific community. This Research Topic focuses on studies that advance this transition from description to application, pushing our understanding toward outcomes that benefit sustainable agriculture, ecosystem restoration, and ecological resilience. In particular, examining the role of microbiomes in ecosystem restoration and resilience represents a key priority. The overarching scope is therefore to consolidate recent advances in terrestrial microbiome research and highlight applications that contribute to sustainable environmental improvement. Beyond advancing mechanistic understanding, this Research Topic emphasizes the translation of terrestrial microbiome knowledge into land-management-relevant strategies. Contributions are encouraged that explicitly link microbial processes to actionable interventions, including soil amendment practices, microbiome-informed crop and land management, restoration inoculum design, and monitoring indicators for soil recovery. By bridging microbiome science with applied land management, this collection aims to inform practical solutions that support agricultural productivity, ecosystem rehabilitation, and long-term ecosystem resilience.This collection invites submission of manuscripts (original research articles, reviews, mini reviews, brief research reports, methods, and perspectives) related, but not limited to, the following themes: (1) Microbial community traits contributing to soil functions(2) Microbiome-assisted agriculture and plant stress tolerance(3) Microbial approaches to soil rehabilitation and ecosystem restoration(4) Microbiome-driven ecosystem resilience and climate adaptation(5) Synthetic microbial consortia, microbiome engineering, and translational interventions(6) Omics and cutting-edge technologies for microbiome exploration(7) Environmental biotechnology and nature-based solutions using microbiomes(8) Anthropogenic influences and biogeographical shifts in terrestrial microbiomes(9) Soil amendment practices, microbiome-applied crop and land management, restoration inoculum design, and monitoring indicators for soil recovery(10) Policy perspectives, risk evaluation, scaling strategies, and future roadmaps for microbiome-based innovation Topic editors: Soumyadev Sarkar, Avishek Banik, Alonso Favela Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/76370/functional-terrestrial-microbiomes-bridging-ecology-and-application-in-managed-landscapes