Microbial decomposers process an important fraction of primary production in the biosphere and regulate terrestrial carbon (C) and nutrient cycling. During decomposition, soil C can be mineralized and respired back to the atmosphere or stored as microbial biomass, and the efficiency of this conversion is often termed Carbon Use efficiency (CUE). Those processes strongly influence C cycling, and therefore it is crucial to understand CUE and how that is affected by substrate quality and the environment.
In the proposed session, we solicit studies on methods to estimate CUE in soils, from whole microbial communities to single cell studies, as well as method comparisons. Studies in this session will also include environmental controls of CUE (temperature, moisture, pH, limiting factors, stoichiometry,…) as well as temporal dynamics. We would like to welcome different approaches to study CUE, being that empirical and modelling work both in soil systems and scaled up to ecosystem level.
The session will also present and discuss new and/or improved methods for measuring CUE and will advance understanding on how biotic and abiotic factors regulate CUE.