中国土壤微生物学研究10年回顾

Advances of Soil Microbiology in the Last Decade in China

土壤是人类赖以生存与发展的基础,是地球系统大气圈、水圈、岩石圈及生物圈相互作用最复杂、最活跃的交界面。土壤中的微生物数量巨大、种类繁多,是联系不同圈层物质与能量交换的重要纽带,被称为地球关键元素生物地球化学循环过程的引擎,但长期以来理论与技术发展滞后并制约了土壤微生物学研究,阻碍了对土壤过程和地球表层系统关键过程的深入认识。21世纪初,土壤微生物的分类理论渐具雏形,先进技术的开发应用发展迅猛,成为不同学科交叉发展的重要前沿。国家自然科学基金委员会地球科学部一处紧紧围绕学科发展方向,深入分析了土壤微生物及其相关项目的申请趋势,并于2005年1月组织了国内相关领域同行,主持召开了"土壤生物与土壤过程"学术研讨会,结合国际科学前沿与国家战略需求,明确了当时我国土壤微生物学的主要任务与重点领域,积极引导了我国土壤微生物学的发展方向。过去10年来,在国家自然科学基金委员会地球科学部一处和国家相关部门的大力支持和指导下,我国土壤微生物学研究在土壤养分元素转化、全球环境变化与污染环境修复等方面取得了长足发展,在此对部分成果简要综述,期望能在新形势下,进一步凝练科学共识,把握学科发展前沿,提升理论创新能力,推动我国土壤微生物学的进一步发展。

Soils are fundamental to preservation and sustainability of life-support system on Earth. Soils develop as the most dynamic and complex interface linking atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere and biosphere. Soils harbor enormous diversities of microbial communities as the primary driving forces for global exchanges of matter and energy on our planet. Despite of its profound importance, the invisible soil microbes have for long been underappreciated. In the early 2000s, there has been growing awareness that soil microbiology has attracted huge interest from nonsoil scientists due to the introduction of three-domain phylogeny. It is also known as tree of life theory which is widely recognized as the most accurate reflection of the relatedness of all organisms and provides us with a tool to classify and elucidate the largely untapped resource of soil microbial communities. In January 2005, the Department of Earth Sciences of National Natural Science Foundation of China organized a workshop of ＇ Soil Biology and Soil Processes＇ with focused discussion on soil microbiology research frontiers. The workshop outlined research priorities, cross-disciplinary research opportunities, technological needs and potential breakthroughs within soil microbiology. This workshop has witnessed the rapid advances of soil microbiology in soil nutrient transformation, global environmental changes and environmental remediation over the last decade in China. This article will give a brief review on soil microbial researches in the past decade in China, present the status quo of funding system and highlight the challenge and opportunities for future soil microbiology in China.