Soil Microorganisms
Alfred R. Conklin, Jr., Soil Sediment and Water, 2002

Change of Dominant Microbial Community in Composting of Rice Bran by Adding Charcoal
Shuji Yoshizawa, Satoko Tanaka, ACER, December 2006

Proliferation of Microorganisms in Compost by Addition of Bamboo Charcoals
Shuji Yoshizawa, Michio Ohata, Satoko Tanaka, ACER News vol 2 June 2005
Asian Center for Environmental Research (ACER)acer@meisei-u.ac.jp URL: http://acer.meisei-u.ac.jp/" class="glossary-indicator">i, Meisei University, Japan
http://acer.meisei-u.ac.jp

Micro-organisms, nutrients and tree growth introduction: close associations with roots
in Growing Good Tropical Trees for Planting
K A Longman, Commonwealth Science Council, 1998, FAO , United Nations,

USGS Soil Carbon Research Dr. Mark Waldrop
September 28, 2006

HOW DOES VARIATION IN MICROBIAL COMMUNITY COMPOSITION AND FUNCTION AFFECT CARBON CYCLING PROCESSES WITHIN BOREAL FORESTS?

WHAT CONTROLS MICROBIAL DIVERSITY AND HOW DOES MICROBIAL DIVERSITY AFFECT SOIL FUNCTION?

IS BLACK CARBON DECOMPOSED BY SOIL MICROORGANISMS?

ARE MICROBIAL COMMUNITIES IN PERMAFROST SOILS FUNDAMENTALLY DIFFERENT THAN SURFACE SOILS? WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR DECOMPOSITION OF PERMAFROST CARBON?

HOW DOES A MOISTURE GRADIENT AND CLIMATE MANIPULATION AFFECT THE BIOMASS OF C CYCLING MICROBIAL FUNCTIONAL GROUPS?

An Investigation of Black Carbon Degradation Potential in a Forest Soil Environment
William, H. C.; Lee, E.; Grannas, A.; Hatcher, P. G.
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2003, abstract #B21B-0711, 12/2003

Abstract
Except for emission processes, there is currently little understanding of the mechanisms driving the degradation and biogeochemical cycling of black carbon (BC). Considering current estimates of the global BC pool (>2,500x1015gC), and its annual emission rates (55-205x1012 gC/year), BC represents roughly 16% of Earth's actively cycling organic carbon. Without significant chemical and biological degradation pathways, all of the actively cycling carbon on earth would have accumulated as charcoal in <100,000 years. This investigation show that charcoals recovered from experimental forest fires are altered significantly by microbial colonization, and mineral complexation during exposure to soil processes. Charcoal surface morphology and elemental composition were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and BET surface area measurements. The influence of 90 years aging upon carbon functionality was probed by solid-state 13C NMRi spectroscopy. The prevalence of fungal mycorhizae in these forest soil charcoals also motivated an investigation of black carbon degradation via extracellular enzymes and acids known be exuded by mycelia. Degradation is quantified by carbon loss, and soluble products are examined by mass spectrometry.

Isolating Unique Bacteria from Terra Preta Systems: Using Culturing and Molecular Tools for Characterizing Microbial Life in Terra Preta
O'Neill, Brendan Grossman, Julie Tsai, S.M. Gomes, Jose Elias Garcia, Carlos Eduardo Solomon, Dawit Liang, Biqing Lehmann, Johannes Thies, Janice
Poster presentation from the 2006 World Congress of Soil Science in Philadelphia, PA
16-Aug-2006

The greater fertility of Terra Preta (TP) soils is thought to be due to their high black carbon (BC) content, which contributes to increased nutrient and moisture retention, and increased pH.