Geosmin may be the most familiar volatile compound, as it lends the earthy smell to soil. The compound is a member of the largest family of natural products, the terpenoids. The broad distribution of geosmin among bacteria in both terrestrial and aquatic environments suggests that this compound has an important ecological function, for example, as a signal (attractant or repellent) or as a protective specialized metabolite aga...

Summary Competition is a major type of interaction between fungi and bacteria in soil and is also an important factor in suppression of plant diseases caused by soil‐borne fungal pathogens. There is increasing attention for the possible role of volatiles in competitive interactions between bacteria and fungi. However, knowledge on the actual role of bacterial volatiles in interactions with fungi within soil microbial communiti...

The contribution of low‐abundance microbial species to soil ecosystems is easily overlooked because there is considerable overlap between metabolic abilities (functional redundancy) of dominant and subordinate microbial species. Here we studied how loss of less abundant soil bacteria affected the production of antifungal volatiles, an important factor in the natural control of soil‐borne pathogenic fungi. We provide novel empi...

Summary The extent of soil microbial diversity is seen to be critical to the maintenance of soil health and quality. Different agricultural practices are able to affect soil microbial diversity and thus the level of suppressiveness of plant diseases. In a 4‐year field experiment, we investigated the microbial diversity of soil under different agricultural regimes. We studied permanent grassland, grassland turned into arable la...