Microbe-Environment Interaction Across Grassland Ecosystems: Soil Microbial Diversity, Plant-Microbe Interplay, and Ecosystem Functionality

Grasslands serve as an important global reservoir of biodiversity and provide a wide range of benefits. These benefits include various ecosystem services, such as food production, biodiversity conservation, climate and water regulation, carbon storage, and global biogeochemical cycles. Grasslands are under severe threat from ongoing degradation, undermining their capacity to support biodiversity, ecosystem services, and human well-being. Microbe and environment interaction across grassland ecosystems focuses on the intricate relationships between soil microbial communities, plants, and livestock, which collectively drive ecosystem functionality. Soil microbial diversity has a crucial role in nutrient cycling, organic matter decomposition, and soil health. These microbes interact with plants and influence their growth, improving disease resistance and stress tolerance, while also shaping forage quality consumed by livestock.

The theme of this Research Topic is to assess the role of the grassland microbiome in degraded and restored grasslands and how the grassland microbiome carries out ecosystem functions under ecological changes. Moreover, the plant-microbe interplay impacts nutrient flow and energy transfer, ensuring the sustainability of grassland ecosystems. Understanding these interactions is crucial for enhancing ecosystem resilience, supporting biodiversity, and promoting sustainable agricultural practices under changing environmental conditions. We call for papers from researchers to share new techniques, ideas, and research outcomes on this topic from lab and field studies, large-scale data, and meta-analyses. These findings would provide a deeper insight into how the microbes contribute to the grassland ecosystem in terms of soil health, plant productivity, and nutrient balance on a micro and macro level. Moreover, the findings on the fate of grassland microbiome under different restoration strategies would help in the implementation of appropriate techniques ensuring overall grassland sustainability.

We welcome the submissions of original research articles, methods, perspectives, and reviews on the following topics but are not limited to:

- Role of soil microbiome under different grassland restoration techniques
- Changes in plant-microbe interactions due to variations in climate and/or grassland ecology.
- Importance of diverse microbial taxa for nutrient cycling and overall ecosystem health.
- Role of grass productivity for robust microbial communities and enhanced plant growth.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Root exudates, Nutrient cycling, Carbon sequestration, Grass-microbe interactions, plant growth, Stress tolerance, Climatic variations

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.