7. Improving ecological insights from sequencing

As a consequence of the relative nature of amplicon sequencing data, the majority of sequencing studies remain highly descriptive. These studies have contributed valuable knowledge regarding microbial community structure, underpinning the critical roles of microorganisms in the environment. However, the limitation of using DNA sequence information to infer in situ activity, or even potential metabolic functions, has been looming over the field of environmental microbiology from its early days. This inherent property results from both the fact that, two organisms with closely-related 16S rRNA sequences might posses different metabolic capacities,  and even if the function of the organism is known, the presence of DNA or even RNA does not necessarily indicate that the cells are active \cite{Blazewicz2013}. Recent studies are beginning to combine other forms of data with amplicon sequencing data to improve investigations of ecological patterns. After two decades of applying sequencing studies in the soil environment, we call on researchers to consider combining tools when investigating soil microbial communities to deepen insights into the roles of microorganisms in ecological processes.