Figure 1.

Diversity of approaches used for evaluating microbial inoculation effects on soil and agro-ecosystem in the climate change context

Characterization and mechanistic understanding of the legacy of microbial inoculants are better achieved through microcosms and mesocosms studies (Panels B, C) while quantifying the actual benefits of inoculants to climate change mitigation and adaptation –including possible risks– requires field control experiments and large-scale field application (Panels D, E).