# Bioenergetics of microbial communities in soil systems

Tobias Bölscher, Eric Paterson, Thomas Freitag, Barry Thornton, Lars

Wadsö, Gunnar Börjesson, Anke M Herrmann

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## To cite this version:

Tobias Bölscher, Eric Paterson, Thomas Freitag, Barry Thornton, Lars Wadsö, et al. Bioenergetics of microbial communities in soil systems. Sustainable Intensification of Agriculture - Challenges in Soil Science confronting Global Fodd Security, SLU, Jan 2018, Uppsala (Suède), Sweden. hal-04490219

HAL Id: hal-04490219

https://hal.science/hal-04490219v1

Submitted on 5 Mar 2024

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# Bioenergetics of microbial communities in soil systems

T. BÖLSCHER<fnref n="1" />*, E. PATERSON<fnref n="2" />, T. FREITAG<fnref n="2" />, B. THORNTON<fnref n="2" />, L. WADSÖ<fnref n="3" />, G. BÖRJESSON<fnref n="1" />, A. M. HERRMANN<fnref n="1" />

Energy is continuously transformed in soils through the metabolic activities of microorganisms, and microbial energy demands regulate terrestrial element cycles. The transformation of energy in living systems, i.e. bioenergetics, is therefore fundamental for soil functioning. We advanced thermodynamic approaches to evaluate microbial bioenergetics and carbon turnover in soil systems [1-2]. Among various soil management systems, we quantified thermodynamic efficiencies of microbial communities which is defined as resource allocation between respiratory energy losses and biosynthetic stabilization. This property is important in governing for example soil fertility and carbon sequestration. We found that thermodynamic efficiency was related to microbial community composition with fungi and gram-negative bacteria tending towards higher efficiencies [2]. However, short term variation in efficiency across soil systems can result from altered microbial physiology without changes in community composition [3]. Our aim is to further develop this approach into a bioenergetics framework, contributing to define soil management practices which support efficient microbial communities for sustaining soil fertility and carbon sequestration.

[1] Herrmann et al. 2014. Environ. Sci. Technol. 48, 4344-4352.

[2] Bölscher et al. 2016. Biol. Fertil. Soils 52, 547-559.

[3] Bölscher et al. 2017. Soil Biol. Biochem. 109, 59-69.

<footnote n="1">¹Department of Soil and Environment, Swed. Univ. Agric. Sci., 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden
(*presenting author: Tobias.Bolscher@slu.se)</footnote>

<footnote n="2">²Ecological Sciences, The James Hutton Institute, Aberdeen Ab15 8QH, Scotland, UK</footnote>

<footnote n="3">³Building Materials, Lund University, 221 00 Lund, Sweden</footnote>