"More carbon is stored in the soil than in all plants, animals and the atmosphere combined, making it among the most critical conservation frontiers as we face the climate crisis.

According to a recent study published in the journal Nature, microbes are the key drivers behind carbon storage in soil, surpassing other soil processes by a factor of four.

“We know that microbes are important for soil health,” Steven Allison, a professor in Earth System Science at the University of California, Irvine, who was not involved in this study, told Mongabay. “But this is really the first paper that establishes this positive link between the efficiency of microbial metabolism and the amount of organic carbon that’s stored in soils around the world.”"

Liz Kimbrough reports for Mongabay June 27, 2023. [2]