From changing climate to land degradation and pollution, human societies face many stresses that eventually rely on the functioning of natural resources, such as soils, but which are threatened by the same processes. Taken too frequently for granted as inert material, soils are teeming with life, and microbial life, in particular. Topsoil holds the highest detected diversity of microbial life forms, supporting soil fertility and plant growth. Unfortunately, we still have very little understanding of how this collective aggregate of microscopic life forms works and sustains itself, or changes upon physical or chemical stresses. Neither do we know very well how to intervene in damaged systems such that we may restore their properties.

The NCCR Microbiomes is a Swiss-wide research network focusing on unraveling the fundamental processes that shape and maintain complex microbial systems in a variety of habitats and hosts. In this presentation, I would like to give some insights into our own research on the development of soil microbiomes and the important effect of microhabitat fragmentation in soils on promoting high microbial diversity. On the example of chemical pollutants, I will present some of the current strategies and pitfalls in our attempts to complement soil microbiomes and diminish pollution load. These and other efforts may eventually improve our success to engraft specific functionalities into soil microbiomes and help rescuing their properties to support our own life.