• Soil viruses
• Microbial ecology
• Soil carbon cycling

While the role of soil microorganisms in organic matter cycling and soil organic carbon (SOC) formation is well established, the impact of bacteriophages on microbial carbon use efficiency (CUE) and soil carbon dynamics is an area of ongoing research. We aim to elucidate the ecological effects of soil bacteriophages on microbial community structure, carbon cycling, CUE, and the accumulation of necromass in SOC by designing synthetic microbial communities as experimental models of phage-microbe interactions.

Wang, S., Zhu, D., Ge, T., Wang, Y., Zhang, Y., Liang, C., Liao, H., Liang, X., 2024. Unveiling the top-down control of soil viruses over microbial communities and soil organic carbon cycling: A review. Climate Smart Agriculture 1, 100022. doi: 10.1016/j.csag.2024.100022.

Liang, X., Wang, Y., Xie, N., Wang, S., Zhang, Y., Radosevich, M., 2024. Studying soil viral ecology under an ecosystem services framework. Applied Soil Ecology 197, 105339. doi: 10.1016/j.apsoil.2024.105339.