Soil microorganisms play a key role in driving major biogeochemical cycles and in global responses to climate change. However, understanding and predicting the behavior and function of these microorganisms remains a grand challenge for soil ecology due in part to the microscale complexity of soils. It is becoming increasingly clear that understanding the microbial perspective is vital to accurately predicting global processes. Here, we discuss the microbial perspective including the microbial habitat as it relates to measurement and modeling of ecosystem processes. We argue that clearly defining and quantifying the size, distribution and sphere of influence of microhabitats is crucial to managing microbial activity at the ecosystem scale. This can be achieved using controlled and hierarchical sampling designs. Model microbial systems can provide key data needed to integrate microhabitats into ecosystem models, while adapting soil sampling schemes and statistical methods can allow us to collect microbially-focused data. Quantifying soil processes, like biogeochemical cycles, from a microbial perspective will allow us to more accurately predict soil functions and address long-standing unknowns in soil ecology.

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宏观尺度上的微观：将微生物尺度的土壤过程与全球生态系统功能联系起来

土壤微生物在推动主要生物地球化学循环和全球应对气候变化方面发挥着关键作用。然而，理解和预测这些微生物的行为和功能仍然是土壤生态学的一大挑战，部分原因是土壤的微观复杂性。越来越清楚的是，了解微生物的观点对于准确预测全球过程至关重要。在这里，我们讨论微生物的观点，包括微生物栖息地，因为它与生态系统过程的测量和建模有关。我们认为，明确定义和量化微生境的大小、分布和影响范围对于管理生态系统规模的微生物活动至关重要。这可以使用受控和分层抽样设计来实现。模型微生物系统可以提供将微生境整合到生态系统模型中所需的关键数据，同时调整土壤采样方案和统计方法可以让我们收集以微生物为重点的数据。从微生物的角度量化土壤过程，如生物地球化学循环，将使我们能够更准确地预测土壤功能并解决土壤生态学中长期存在的未知问题。