4.5 Synthesis
How, then, do we resolve these complex interactions to advance our understanding
of how soils function? It is certainly still not clear. In each of the core areas of
analysis, microbial populations, mineralogy, and organic matter chemistry, advances
are occurring rapidly. There is also a growing recognition that we need to understand
how these components of soil interact with each other. How are we to determine
which “party” is currently “in power”? How do the different aspects of chemistry,
physics, and biology interact with each other to create the patterns we observe at the
soil profile to landscape scales? These have been core foci in soil science since its
inception—each generation of scholars develops new tools, which lead to new
insights, and new theories to explain the dynamics of soil systems.
We have reached a point in the technologies we use in soils that we can analyze
the individual component parts of a soil to an amazing degree—‘omics allow us to
analyze not only which taxa of microorganisms are present in a soil, but which are
growing and which genes they are currently transcribing. We can analyze specific
molecules that exist in soil (via instruments that couple chromatography and mass
spectrometry), and we can use tomography to map the structure of the pore network
within individual aggregates. However, we still lack theory to link such fine-scale
measurements with larger-scale process dynamics. Such theory must consider the
complex “politics” and the interplay among the parties, to understand how microbes
interact with organic molecules and how those interactions are mediated, facilitated,
or blocked by the interactions with mineral surfaces.
Reintegrating our approaches to studying fine-scale soil processes, bringing
together our understanding of physical, chemical, and biological phenomena, is
essential to develop more effective cross-scale theories and tools to understand
and predict how changing environmental conditions will alter the functioning of
soil systems. In concert with this reductionist push at the fine scale, we equally
require more effective cross-scale theories and models to identify how the fine-scale
dynamics may be most effectively captured to improve our understanding of largerscale soil dynamics—it’s not just pore-to-core, but pore-to-core-to-profile-to-landscape! How do we capture the “local politics” to understand, and better manage, the
national scale of soil biogeochemistry?
4 The Democracy of Dirt: Relating Micro-Scale Dynamics to Macro-Scale Ecosystem. . .
99
How, then, do we resolve these complex interactions to advance our understanding
of how soils function? It is certainly still not clear. In each of the core areas of
analysis, microbial populations, mineralogy, and organic matter chemistry, advances
are occurring rapidly. There is also a growing recognition that we need to understand
how these components of soil interact with each other. How are we to determine
which “party” is currently “in power”? How do the different aspects of chemistry,
physics, and biology interact with each other to create the patterns we observe at the
soil profile to landscape scales? These have been core foci in soil science since its
inception—each generation of scholars develops new tools, which lead to new
insights, and new theories to explain the dynamics of soil systems.
We have reached a point in the technologies we use in soils that we can analyze
the individual component parts of a soil to an amazing degree—‘omics allow us to
analyze not only which taxa of microorganisms are present in a soil, but which are
growing and which genes they are currently transcribing. We can analyze specific
molecules that exist in soil (via instruments that couple chromatography and mass
spectrometry), and we can use tomography to map the structure of the pore network
within individual aggregates. However, we still lack theory to link such fine-scale
measurements with larger-scale process dynamics. Such theory must consider the
complex “politics” and the interplay among the parties, to understand how microbes
interact with organic molecules and how those interactions are mediated, facilitated,
or blocked by the interactions with mineral surfaces.
Reintegrating our approaches to studying fine-scale soil processes, bringing
together our understanding of physical, chemical, and biological phenomena, is
essential to develop more effective cross-scale theories and tools to understand
and predict how changing environmental conditions will alter the functioning of
soil systems. In concert with this reductionist push at the fine scale, we equally
require more effective cross-scale theories and models to identify how the fine-scale
dynamics may be most effectively captured to improve our understanding of largerscale soil dynamics—it’s not just pore-to-core, but pore-to-core-to-profile-to-landscape! How do we capture the “local politics” to understand, and better manage, the
national scale of soil biogeochemistry?
4 The Democracy of Dirt: Relating Micro-Scale Dynamics to Macro-Scale Ecosystem. . .
99