Soil-Plant-Atmosphere Interactions: Ecological and Biogeographical Considerations for Climate-Change Research

For millions of years, life has thrived at the critical zone between Earth's slow-changing crust and its volatile atmosphere. The boundaries within which terrestrial organisms occur are delineated by climate and by the availability of limiting resources that cycle through the soil–plant–atmosphere interface. In this chapter, we explore how symbiotic associations that emerged to overcome resource limitation in ancient environments still shape the composition and distribution of terrestrial ecosystems today. We discuss climate-induced ecosystem transformations that occurred before and after human activity became a dominant planetary force and evaluate the potential effect of ecological and biogeographical regime shifts on climatic stability. We conclude by identifying gaps in knowledge and research directions that will improve climate-change prediction and impact-mitigation efforts in natural and managed ecosystems.