MicrobeX-Science Center to feature soil and its microbes

The upcoming MicrobeX-Science Center in Zirl, close to Innsbruck (Tyrol, Austria), is focused on microorganisms governing our daily life. The storyline is crossing atmospheric microbiology related to climate change, food microbiology and environmental biotechnology like biomethanisation and wastewater treatment. A most central role, however, will have soil microbiology that is related to the effects of microorganisms on climate, in particular soil greenhouse gas production and uptake, plant-growth promoting rhizobacteria related to environmentally sound alternative agriculture, and also to microbially produced volatiles like geosmin, the scent of soil. Soil biodiversity will also be addressed, in relation to deadwood (until its microbial decomposition into the very first humus form, the so-called lignoform), soil-dwelling myxobacteria and erosion-preventing mycorrhizae. The talk will show how soil microorganisms will be embedded in a storyline that aims at promoting the public interest in microbiology, and microbes in geo- and in particular in soil sciences, with the challenging purpose of generally raising awareness about the central role of (soil) microbes in the past, presence and future.