Microorganisms and climate change: terrestrial feedbacks and mitigation options

Microorganisms are the most diverse and dominant organisms on the planet and are vital for ecosystem functioning. However, most of them cannot yet be cultured in the laboratory.Microbial processes have a central role in the global fluxes of the key greenhouse gases carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, and these processes are likely to respond rapidly to climate change.An improved mechanistic understanding of microbial controls of terrestrial greenhouse gas fluxes is essential to improve the prediction of climate models.New and emerging molecular tools are now available to quantify the diversity of uncultivable microorganisms and their metabolic processes, which will help to improve our manipulation of their feedback responses to climate change.There is huge potential to manage and manipulate microbial processes to mitigate climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions from terrestrial ecosystems.To achieve this, an interdisciplinary approach is required that includes microbial ecology, environmental genomics, soil and plant science, and ecosystem modelling.