Quote:
Originally Posted by engineerdude
Essay,
I do not agree that soil microbes have much to do with the composition of our atmosphere. The green plants that live by photosynthesis are what removes CO2 from the air - the rest of the life forms on our planet do the very opposite. And, as I have posted above, 97.2% of the plant life that scrubs the CO2 lives in the oceans. Desertification, intense farming, etc. all are unpleasant, but there just aren't enough land plants to affect CO2 levels much.
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This is not correct. Soils and the atmosphere are interconnected, and affect each other in significant ways. Also, soils contain and often harbor significant amounts of cyanobacteria, algae, lichen, etc. that perform photosynthesis (and in the case of cyanobacteria can fix N2). Even in the case of deserts (and Antarctica), many have a crust of living lichen on the surface, where cyanobacteria/algae and fungi work together to fix N2, perform photosynthesis, and grow in some of the harshest places on earth. Also, I have some biochar-filled pots with herbs that I keep in my room that have significant cyanobacterial growth on the surface of the soils, which makes them visibly tinted blue-green or even somewhat slimey. These coexist and flourish with the plants and are probably happily photosynthesizing away. Here are a few links on soil microbiology and soil science to perk your interest if you're so inclined:
Soil crust - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (I'm familiar with this because I live in Utah and have seen cryptobiotic soil many times--it's common in the undisturbed desert areas, although it's very fragile)
Soil Bacteria | NRCS SQ
Cyanobacteria Photos
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