The bottleneck in the turnover of soil organic matter (SOM) is the conversion of large molecular compounds into smaller compounds that can be transported through a cell membrane of a microbe for processing. Once inside the cell, organic compounds can be converted into biomass or be respired. The microbial depolymerization...
Soil water repellency may be influenced by microbes whereby they produce aliphatic constituents (non-wetting materials) that coat the soil particles when they are subjected to desiccation stress.