Let's brainstorm for titles here (10-12 words in best case):

a) Potentials and challenges of amplicon sequencing data for soil ecological research
d) Inferring ecological conclusions on soil microbial communities from amplicon sequencing data
e) Qualitative and quantitative aspects of soil microbial community analysis through amplicon sequencing
f) A critical perspective on interpreting amplicon sequencing data in soil ecological research
g) What's in a sequence? Potentials and challenges (or title f instead?)
h) Unearthing the hidden aspects of soil microbial community analysis through amplicon sequencing
i) Soil special issues: A critical view on interpreting amplicon sequencing data in soil ecological research
k) It's all relative:  A critical perspective ...
j) Ecological interpretations from/of amplicon sequencing data in soil science

Abstract

1. Introduction

Soil is one of the most biologically diverse and heterogeneous ecosystems, presenting unique challenges to scientists in the fields of soil and microbial ecology \cite{Bickel2020}. The critical role of microorganisms as drivers of biogeochemical processes is well-documented, and a major goal of soil ecology remains to decipher the link between the diversity of soil microbial communities, and their function in the environment \cite{Hinsinger_2009,Manzoni_2012}. Historically, studies of microbial community analysis revealed a rather narrow perspective of diversity by targeting mainly cultivable bacteria, taxa of high abundance or microorganisms grouped according to morphological or physiological properties  \cite{Staley1985,Steen_2019,Frosteg_rd_2011}. The introduction of next-generation sequencing  technologies such as amplicon sequencing has revolutionized our understanding of microbial diversity by enabling investigation of community composition with much greater taxonomic resolution than before.
Amplicon sequencing (also termed metabarcoding) is based on PCR-amplification of variable regions of DNA within a conserved marker gene \cite{Go_biewski_2019}. The accessibility of established assays, affordable costs, as well as the availability of free analysis software packages have facilitated the broad use of amplicon sequencing for characterization of the microbiological diversity in environmental reserearch \cite{Caporaso_2012}. In the field of soil science, its application has accelerated in the last decade as evident by the growing number of studies published in specialized journals (Figure 1). The majority of these manuscripts report the analysis of soil community composition and diversity based on taxonomic marker genes such as 16S rRNA and ITS (Nilsson et al. 2019, other REFs). In addition, functional genes can be targeted to obtian information on the organism that may contribute to a specific environmental process ( e.g. Aigle et al. 2019 \cite{Angel_2018}; Pjevac et al. 2017, Seneca et al., 2020,   \cite{Pester2012} )  
The meaningful descriptive work in the field of soil ecology has enabled researchers to investigate the composition and dynamics of microbial communities. However, numerous soil-specific challenges persist in the analysis and interpretation of amplicon sequence data due to unique considerations faced in this highly heterogeneous environment.
Given the high number of studies being published as of late it is safe to assess that microbial community analysis o