Abstract: Grasslands play significant ecological roles in the biosphere. Soil microorganisms are a key factor in maintaining the function and stability of grasslands. Over the past decade, metagenomic technologies have provided new tools for analyzing microbial communities in various ecosystems. Here, we summarized the applications of metagenomics in grasslands. The latest progresses in the responses of soil microbial community to global change, especially climate change, atmospheric composition change, land use change, and exotic species invasion, are included. These studies are of great importance for fully improving our understanding of the ecological functions of soil microbial community in grasslands, and their significance in maintaining the balance of biosphere. Finally, we provide some prospective on the application of metagenomic tools in studying soil microbial communities in grasslands.

Key words: natural enemy, aphid, E-β-farnesene, population dynamic, biological control.