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arXiv · 2607.10734

Life in a tight spot: Coupled dynamics of bacteria and soil across scales

Pablo Bravo·Tanumoy Dhar·Eloise Masquelier·Danielle Sclafani·Sujit S. Datta
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Abstract

Soil harbors much of Earth's bacterial life. The activity of these bacteria governs plant growth, carbon and nitrogen cycling, and the response of land to a changing climate. Understanding this activity is difficult, however: soil is structurally and chemically heterogeneous and optically opaque, and its bacteria not only respond to their surroundings but continually reshape them, a two-way feedback that most idealized experiments and theories overlook. Here we review how this dynamic feedback governs the physics of bacterial motility, growth, and sensing in soil across three scales -- the single pore, the mesoscale of many pores, and the broader landscape.

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Pablo Bravo, Tanumoy Dhar, Eloise Masquelier, Danielle Sclafani, Sujit S. Datta. 2026-07-12. Life in a tight spot: Coupled dynamics of bacteria and soil across scales. https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.10734

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