The interactions between plants and soil microbes are an important focus of terrestrial ecology. While synergistic, mutualistic and antagonistic interactions have been a primary focus in the literature, recent work with high-throughput sequencing methods has found that the whole soil microbial community can have a strong effect on plant success. Thus, much development has been made to understand the mechanisms underlying plant-microbe interactions in a community context.
At the same time, our planet is under increasing global change pressures. Climate change, land-use change, pollution - among other pressures - can disrupt the critical interactions between plants and soil microbes. Yet many questions remain: how disrupted interactions can reorganize and affect ecosystem functions - from soil nutrient cycling to plant productivity. In this session, we welcome studies examining how plant-soil-microbe interactions are affected by global change pressures and the ramification of these disruptions for ecosystem processes. We especially encourage contributions that examine interactions in a community or ecosystem context.