A global atlas of the dominant bacteria found in soil

A global map of soil bacteria Soil bacteria play key roles in regulating terrestrial carbon dynamics, nutrient cycles, and plant productivity. However, the natural histories and distributions of these organisms remain largely undocumented. Delgado-Baquerizo et al. provide a survey of the dominant bacterial taxa found around the world. In soil collections from six continents, they found that only 2% of bacterial taxa account for nearly half of the soil bacterial communities across the globe. These dominant taxa could be clustered into ecological groups of co-occurring bacteria that share habitat preferences. The findings will allow for a more predictive understanding of soil bacterial diversity and distribution. Science , this issue p. 320