Role of microbes in restoration ecology and ecosystem services

Abstract

Restoration ecology is the study of renewing a degraded, damaged, or destroyed ecosystem through active human intervention. Restoration ecology specifically refers to the scientific study that has evolved as recently. It assumes that environmental degradation and population decline are somewhat reversible processes. Ecological restoration has the potential to improve air quality, reverse forest clearance and desertification, slow biodiversity loss, enhance urban environments, and perhaps improve human livelihoods, and humanity’s relationships within nature. Recent conceptual advances highlight the interactions between flora, fauna, and soil in restoration ecology. The recovery process is relatively longer in comparison to the time taken for degradation. Restoration might take place naturally but that is a very slow process. Restoration ecology initiates and speeds up the recovery process. Bioremediation is the use of organisms (prokaryotes, fungi, plant, etc.) to detoxify polluted ecosystems by accumulating the toxic components in their bodies. Microbes may play a vital role in supplying nutrients in utilizable forms from soil to the plants. The important functions of the microbes are in nitrogen fixation, phosphate solubilization, and plant growth hormone synthesis, which are essential for better colonization of mangroves, etc. Recognizing the importance of soil microbes for success of higher plants and overall ecosystem health is the key to success of restoration. Plants with nitrogen-fixing symbioses have been employed throughout the history of restoration. Mycorrhizal associations have also been long explored in restoration settings, where their benefits have been repeatedly demonstrated, although the necessity of active mycorrhizal introduction is still required. Soil microbes help in mineralization of organic substrates form litter and release nutrients as a result of the heterotrophic activity. Hence, the microbial biomass is an important factor for maintaining soil quality, nutrient cycling, and soil reclamation. © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.