Organisms throughout the tree of life accumulate chemical resources, in particular forms or compartments, to secure their availability for future use. Here we review microbial storage and its ecological significance by assembling several rich but disconnected lines of research in microbiology, biogeochemistry, and the ecology of macroscopic organisms. Evidence is drawn from various systems, but we pay particular attention to soils, where microorganisms play crucial roles in global element cycles. An assembly of genus-level data demonstrates the likely prevalence of storage traits in soil. We provide a theoretical basis for microbial storage ecology by distinguishing a spectrum of storage strategies ranging from surplus storage (storage of abundant resources that are not immediately required) to reserve storage (storage of limited resources at the cost of other metabolic functions). This distinction highlights that microorganisms can invest in storage at times of surplus and under conditions of scarcity. We then align storage with trait-based microbial life-history strategies, leading to the hypothesis that ruderal species, which are adapted to disturbance, rely less on storage than microorganisms adapted to stress or high competition. We explore the implications of storage for soil biogeochemistry, microbial biomass, and element transformations and present a process-based model of intracellular carbon storage. Our model indicates that storage can mitigate against stoichiometric imbalances, thereby enhancing biomass growth and resource-use efficiency in the face of unbalanced resources. Given the central roles of microbes in biogeochemical cycles, we propose that microbial storage may be influential on macroscopic scales, from carbon cycling to ecosystem stability.

整个生命之树的生物体积累化学资源，以特定的形式或隔间，以确保它们的可用性以供将来使用。在这里，我们通过汇集微生物学、生物地球化学和宏观生物生态学中几个内容丰富但互不相关的研究路线，回顾了微生物储存及其生态学意义。证据来自各种系统，但我们特别关注土壤，其中微生物在全球元素循环中发挥着至关重要的作用。属级数据的集合证明了土壤中储存性状的可能普遍性。我们通过区分从剩余存储（存储不是立即需要的丰富资源）到储备存储（以其他代谢功能为代价存储有限资源）的一系列存储策略，为微生物存储生态学提供了理论基础。这种区别突出表明，微生物可以在过剩和稀缺条件下投资于储存。然后，我们将存储与基于特征的微生物生活史策略结合起来，得出这样的假设：适应干扰的粗鲁物种比适应压力或高竞争的微生物对存储的依赖更少。我们探讨了储存对土壤生物地球化学、微生物生物量和元素转化的影响，并提出了一个基于过程的细胞内碳储存模型。我们的模型表明，存储可以减轻化学计量失衡，从而在资源不平衡的情况下提高生物量增长和资源利用效率。鉴于微生物在生物地球化学循环中的核心作用，我们提出微生物储存可能在宏观尺度上产生影响，从碳循环到生态系统稳定性。