Evidence map›Paper›PMID 24425529›Full record

ReviewJournal of the science of food and agriculture2014

The role of soil microbes in the global carbon cycle: tracking the below-ground microbial processing of plant-derived carbon for manipulating carbon dynamics in agricultural systems.

Christos Gougoulias, Joanna M Clark, Liz J Shaw

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Journal of the science of food and agriculture, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 83 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
83citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

83 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
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  3. Development of Low-Cost Soil Flux Chamber for COSensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026
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23 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Christos GougouliasSoil Research Centre, Department of Geography and Environmental Science, School of Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Science, University of Reading, RG6 6DW, United Kingdom.
Joanna M Clark
Liz J Shaw

Funding

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council BB/F000251/1
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

It is well known that atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) (and other greenhouse gases) have increased markedly as a result of human activity since the industrial revolution. It is perhaps less appreciated that natural and managed soils are an important source and sink for atmospheric CO2 and that, primarily as a result of the activities of soil microorganisms, there is a soil-derived respiratory flux of CO2 to the atmosphere that overshadows by tenfold the annual CO2 flux from fossil fuel emissions. Therefore small changes in the soil carbon cycle could have large impacts on atmospheric CO2 concentrations. Here we discuss the role of soil microbes in the global carbon cycle and review the main methods that have been used to identify the microorganisms responsible for the processing of plant photosynthetic carbon inputs to soil. We discuss whether application of these techniques can provide the information required to underpin the management of agro-ecosystems for carbon sequestration and increased agricultural sustainability. We conclude that, although crucial in enabling the identification of plant-derived carbon-utilising microbes, current technologies lack the high-throughput ability to quantitatively apportion carbon use by phylogentic groups and its use efficiency and destination within the microbial metabolome. It is this information that is required to inform rational manipulation of the plant-soil system to favour organisms or physiologies most important for promoting soil carbon storage in agricultural soil.

Indexed as

CarbonCarbon CycleCarbon DioxideGreenhouse EffectPlantsSoil MicrobiologyAgricultureAtmosphereEcosystemSoilCarbonCarbon DioxideSoilagro-ecosystem managementcarbon cyclingcarbon trackingclimate changedecompositionmethodsrhizosphere carbon flowsoil microbial respiration

Identifiers

PMID24425529
PMCPMC4283042

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.