How Climate Change affects Microbial Ecosystems (and Vice Versa)

EDITORIAL

How Climate Change affects Microbial Ecosystems (and Vice Versa) Stanley Maloy and Tom Schmidt

The American Academy of Microbiology (AAM) periodically hosts colloquia that bring together experts on important topics in microbial sciences. The conclusions are published in short reports (FAQs) that explain the issues in language that is accessible to the general public. These FAQs are often used by teachers, politicians, and others who are interested in the topics. Sometimes answers require interdisciplinary perspectives, so this past March the AAM collaborated with the American Geophysical Union (AGU) on a colloquium focused on the interactions between climate change and microbial ecosystems that drive biogeochemistry—that is, the influence of microbes on the physical, chemical, biological, and geological processes that modulate our environment. Microbes form the backbone of every ecological system by controlling local and global biogeochemical cycling of elements essential for life, including carbon and nitrogen fixation, and methane and sulfur metabolism. Microbes both produce and consume the major greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O). Alteration of the temperature and water availability in different environments can change the microbial populations responsible for these biogeochemical cycles. For example, as Barry DiGregorio describes on p. 241 in this issue of Microbe, the warming permafrost in the Arctic has stimulated the microbially catalyzed release of greenhouse gases that further aggravate global warming. This is not a new process—microbes have been changing the climate, and have been changed by the climate, throughout Earth’s history—but human activities such as burning fossil fuel have dramatically increased the rate of climate change. As we experience unprecedented environmental impacts from climate change, microbes continue to evolve and adapt to their

surrounding conditions much more rapidly than other organisms. Understanding these processes will enhance our ability to predict both the rate of climate change and the future effects of climate change on all forms of life. The colloquia explored effects of climate change in different ecosystems. How is climate change affecting microbes in polar regions, where some of the most rapid changes in water availability, soil, and plants are occurring? What are the effects of climate change on microbes that affect agriculture and fresh water, topics that have tremendous impact on human health and food security? What are the effects of climate change on microbial processes in the ocean, a topic explored by Kujawinski and colleagues on p. 262 in this issue of Microbe? Can microbes be used to reduce the damage from climate change to our planet? Related topics have been discussed in popular media like the New York Times—for example, how climate change has altered the distribution of mosquito and tick vectors, thereby introducing infectious diseases to populations at latitudes and elevations that were previously safe. However, each of the questions about different microbial ecosystems influence the other, so a deeper understanding of the role of climate change on microbial ecosystems, and the corresponding impacts of microbes on climate change will require collaborative, interdisciplinary approaches. Stay tuned for the forthcoming FAQ for insights into these questions! Stanley Maloy, Center for Microbial Sciences, San Diego State University, is the Chair of the Microbe Editorial Board, and Tom Schmidt, Professor, Center for Microbial Systems, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, is a member of the Microbe Editorial Board.

234 • Microbe—Volume 11, Number 6, 2016 Downloaded from www.asmscience.org by