Credit: from Nissan A. et al., Nature Communications, 2023
The scanning electron microscope image shows a colony of bacteria (coloured bluish) around a few micrometres small root (brown) in the soil. The image represents how bacteria and microbial communities influence CO2 release from the soil through heterotrophic respiration: The soil contains soil grains to which microbial communities adhere and process dissolved oxygen O2 and organic carbon DOC from organic matter (OM).