Chapter 11
Microbes’ Many Roles in Climate Change:
Contribution, Consequence, Mitigation,
and Model System
Sanghoon Kang
Abstract Climate change is an imminent problem, one quite possibly catastrophic
to the global ecosystem and human civilizations. Most understand that human
activities are responsible for climate change, yet it is enhanced microbial processes
by human activities that are truly causing it. The three major biogenic greenhouse
gases (carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide) all have significant microbial
sources, especially in agricultural practices. However, microbes are also at the
forefront of climate change impacts due to their prevalence and numerous ecosystem
functions that they are performing. Studies using simulation experimental settings
like the Free-Air Carbon dioxide Enrichment (FACE) facility showed clear
responses in microbial communities to increased carbon dioxide concentration and
temperature, which are associated with disruptions in the soil ecosystem, increasing
harmful algal blooms, and range shifting of vector-borne infectious diseases. It
would then be useful to use mitigation strategies that target microbes in order to
reduce greenhouse gas production, such as modifying agricultural practices to
reduce emissions and increase carbon sequestration. Microbes can also be a good
model system to study the consequences of climate change due to their rapid
reproduction rates and large population sizes so that more realistic climate change
simulation may be possible within a shorter time frame. All together, microbes are in
a unique position for the issue of climate change as contributors, victims, mitigators,
and a model system.
11.1 Introduction
Humans and all organisms are living in an era of climate change that scientists are
now calling a climate crisis. Empirical evidence from various scientific disciplines
almost unanimously points at anthropogenic activities as the cause of the current
climate change. The autotrophic greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO 2 )
S. Kang (*)
Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, IL, USA
e-mail: skang3@eiu.edu
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
C. J. Hurst (ed.), Microbes: The Foundation Stone of the Biosphere, Advances in
Environmental Microbiology 8, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63512-1_11
187
Microbes’ Many Roles in Climate Change:
Contribution, Consequence, Mitigation,
and Model System
Sanghoon Kang
Abstract Climate change is an imminent problem, one quite possibly catastrophic
to the global ecosystem and human civilizations. Most understand that human
activities are responsible for climate change, yet it is enhanced microbial processes
by human activities that are truly causing it. The three major biogenic greenhouse
gases (carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide) all have significant microbial
sources, especially in agricultural practices. However, microbes are also at the
forefront of climate change impacts due to their prevalence and numerous ecosystem
functions that they are performing. Studies using simulation experimental settings
like the Free-Air Carbon dioxide Enrichment (FACE) facility showed clear
responses in microbial communities to increased carbon dioxide concentration and
temperature, which are associated with disruptions in the soil ecosystem, increasing
harmful algal blooms, and range shifting of vector-borne infectious diseases. It
would then be useful to use mitigation strategies that target microbes in order to
reduce greenhouse gas production, such as modifying agricultural practices to
reduce emissions and increase carbon sequestration. Microbes can also be a good
model system to study the consequences of climate change due to their rapid
reproduction rates and large population sizes so that more realistic climate change
simulation may be possible within a shorter time frame. All together, microbes are in
a unique position for the issue of climate change as contributors, victims, mitigators,
and a model system.
11.1 Introduction
Humans and all organisms are living in an era of climate change that scientists are
now calling a climate crisis. Empirical evidence from various scientific disciplines
almost unanimously points at anthropogenic activities as the cause of the current
climate change. The autotrophic greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO 2 )
S. Kang (*)
Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, IL, USA
e-mail: skang3@eiu.edu
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
C. J. Hurst (ed.), Microbes: The Foundation Stone of the Biosphere, Advances in
Environmental Microbiology 8, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63512-1_11
187