Impacts of Agriculture on the Environment and Soil Microbial Biodiversity Barros Rodríguez, Adoración Manzanera Ruiz, Maximino Enrique Biodiversity Agriculture Biostimulants Environmental threats This study was funded by the Spanish Ministry for Economy and Competitiveness and the European Union, within the context of the research projects CTM2017-84332-R, and CGL2017-91737-EXP, and by the Andalusian Regional Government under the aegis of research project P11-RNM-7844 and P18-RT-976. W.P.-a., K.L., and P.R. are also grateful for partial support by Chiang Mai University and the European Union through the Erasmus+ program. Agriculture represents an important mechanism in terms of reducing plant, animal, and microbial biodiversity and altering the environment. The pressure to cope with the increasing food demands of the human population has intensified the environmental impact, and alternative ways to produce food are required in order to minimize the decrease in biodiversity. Conventional agricultural practices, such as floods and irrigation systems; the removal of undesired vegetation by fires, tilling, and plowing; the use of herbicides, fertilizers, and pesticides; and the intensification of these practices over the last 50 years, have led to one of the most important environmental threats—a major loss of biodiversity. In this study, we review the impact that agriculture and its intensification have had on the environment and biodiversity since its invention. Moreover, we demonstrate how these impacts could be reduced through the use of microorganisms as biostimulants. 2021-12-21T08:00:43Z 2021-12-21T08:00:43Z 2021-10-28 journal article Barros-Rodríguez, A... [et al.]. Impacts of Agriculture on the Environment and Soil Microbial Biodiversity. Plants 2021, 10, 2325. [https://doi.org/10.3390/plants10112325] http://hdl.handle.net/10481/72146 10.3390/plants10112325 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/ open access Atribución 3.0 España MDPI