Microbes: The chief ecological engineers in reinstating equilibrium in degraded ecosystems

The indiscriminate application of synthetic chemicals in agriculture has deteriorated extremely the quality of environment due to loss of beneficial microbial communities. The world now has a real prospect to grow sustainably and eliminate acute food scarcity in the next generation. Achieving this will require eco-friendly and safe technology for restoration of degraded lands. Microbes form the vital living components of soils contributing ecosystem sustainability due to their cosmopolitan survival, massive efficient genetic pool, catabolic versatility and stress tolerance potential. It has been reported that direct application of modified microbes enhances the microbial diversity in the agro-ecosystems by breaking dormancy of inactive soil microbial pool. It is presumed that enhanced diversity of efficient microbial community compositions in degraded ecosystems establish a functional equilibrium, which help maintain sustainability. Undoubtedly therefore, microbes may play the role of chief ecological engineers in resolving the environmental problems as well as the innovative tool to reinstate the degraded ecosystems.