Soil Microbiome and Agroecosystem Multifunctionality

Healthy soil cultivation is a prerequisite for enhancing the productivity of intensive farmland and serves as the foundation for addressing challenges related to high resource use efficiency, food security, and environmental protection, while also facilitating agricultural ecological development. Central to this endeavor is ensuring the sustainability of agroecosystem multifunctionality. Intensive agriculture entails significant investments in labor, capital, and technology within a defined area of farmland to boost agricultural output while improving soil resource productivity and labor efficiency. However, intensive agriculture—characterized by extensive pesticide and fertilizer use alongside reduced crop species diversity—is a major contributor to biodiversity loss, which undermines the functionality and stability of agroecosystems. In this context, the soil microbiome plays a crucial role in supporting functions and ecological processes within intensive agroecosystems; it is instrumental in maintaining biogeochemical cycles, preventing soil-borne diseases, and enhancing soil quality. Therefore, a comprehensive understanding of how the soil microbiome sustains and enhances ecosystem multifunctionality in intensive agriculture is essential for developing scientifically informed management strategies that promote soil health and achieve agricultural sustainable development.

This research topic aims to enhance our understanding of the ecological services provided by the soil microbiome in intensive agriculture and its role in promoting ecosystem multifunctionality, as well as to improve our capacity to assess and develop microbial strategies that yield positive ecological benefits. The research will cover the impact of the soil microbiome on the promotion of crop growth, the maintenance of soil health in intensive agriculture, and their contributions to the stability and resilience of agroecosystem functions. Ultimately, this will provide new perspectives for the sustainable management of agricultural green development.

This Research Topic invites submissions of Original Research, Reviews, Opinions, and Perspectives related to, but not limited to, the following subtopics:

- Ecological roles of the soil microbiome in intensive agroecosystems.
- Contributions of the soil microbiome to nutrient cycling, soil-borne disease control, maintenance of soil health, and promotion of crop growth within intensive agroecosystems.
- Influence of the soil microbiome on multifunctionality in intensive agroecosystems.
- Effects of agricultural management practices on the functions of the soil microbiome.

Keywords: Soil microbiome, Intensive agriculture, Ecosystem, Multifunctionality, Sustainable development, High resource use efficiency, Food security, Environmental protection

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.