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In agricultural systems, crop residues are often returned to the soil to improve nutrient cycling and increase carbon sequestration. While beneficial to the ecosystem, the decomposition of crop residues also produces high nitrous oxide (N₂O) gas emissions. N₂O is a long-lived greenhouse gas with a much higher global warming potential than carbon dioxide. It also poses a major threat to the ozone layer that shields the Earth. To understand the microbial interactions that mediate N₂O emissions from agricultural soils, researchers conducted a series of pot and field experiments in China. Tests showed that beneficial fungi associated with plant roots, known as arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) release chemicals, particularly carboxylates, from their hyphae into soil, which attract N₂O-reducing microbes, such as Pseudomonas fluorescens. These denitrifying microbes significantly reduced N₂O emissions from …