Opportunities and challenges for microbiomics in ecosystem restoration

Jake M Robinson; Riley Hodgson; Siegfried L Krauss; Craig Liddicoat; Ashish A Malik; Belinda C Martin; Jakki J Mohr; David Moreno-Mateos; Miriam Muñoz-Rojas; Shawn D Peddle; Martin F Breed

doi:10.1016/j.tree.2023.07.009

Opportunities and challenges for microbiomics in ecosystem restoration

Trends Ecol Evol. 2023 Dec;38(12):1189-1202. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2023.07.009. Epub 2023 Aug 28.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA 5042, Australia; The Aerobiome Innovation & Research Hub, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA 5042, Australia. Electronic address: jake.robinson@flinders.edu.au.
² College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA 5042, Australia.
³ Kings Park Science, Department of Biodiversity, Conservation, and Attractions, Fraser Avenue, Kings Park, WA 6005, Australia; Environmental and Conservation Sciences, Murdoch University, 90 South Street, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia; Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Perth, WA 6009, Australia.
⁴ College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA 5042, Australia; School of Public Health, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia.
⁵ School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 3UU, UK.
⁶ School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Perth, WA 6009, Australia; Ooid Scientific, North Lake, WA 6162, Australia.
⁷ College of Business, University of Montana, Missoula, MT, USA.
⁸ School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, South Parks Road. Oxford OX1 3QY, UK; Department of Landscape Architecture, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, Quincy Street. Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Basque Center for Climate Change - BC3, Ikerbasque Foundation for Science. Edificio Sede 1, Parque Cientifico UPV, 04940 Leioa, Spain.
⁹ Departamento de Biologia Vegetal y Ecologia. Universidad de Sevilla, 41004 Sevilla, Spain; Centre for Ecosystem Science, School of Biological, Earth, and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales (UNSW) Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.

PMID: 37648570
DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2023.07.009

Abstract

Microbiomics is the science of characterizing microbial community structure, function, and dynamics. It has great potential to advance our understanding of plant-soil-microbe processes and interaction networks which can be applied to improve ecosystem restoration. However, microbiomics may be perceived as complex and the technology is not accessible to all. The opportunities of microbiomics in restoration ecology are considerable, but so are the practical challenges. Applying microbiomics in restoration must move beyond compositional assessments to incorporate tools to study the complexity of ecosystem recovery. Advances in metaomic tools provide unprecedented possibilities to aid restoration interventions. Moreover, complementary non-omic applications, such as microbial inoculants and biopriming, have the potential to improve restoration objectives by enhancing the establishment and health of vegetation communities.

Keywords: ecosystem restoration; innovation; metagenomics; microbiome; microbiomics; restoration ecology.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Ecology
Ecosystem*
Microbiota*
Plants
Soil / chemistry
Soil Microbiology

Substances

Soil