The endorhizosphere includes portions of the cortex and endodermis in which microbes and cations can occupy the "free space" between cells (apoplastic space). In the years since, the rhizosphere definition has been refined to include three zones which are defined based on their relative proximity to, and thus influence from, the root (Figure 1).
Hiltner described the rhizosphere as the area around a plant root that is inhabited by a unique population of microorganisms influenced, he postulated, by the chemicals released from plant roots. In 1904 the German agronomist and plant physiologist Lorenz Hiltner first coined the term " rhizosphere" to describe the plant-root interface, a word originating in part from the Greek word "rhiza", meaning root (Hiltner, 1904 Hartmann et al., 2008). Meeting the global challenges of climate change and population growth with a better understanding and control of rhizosphere processes will be one of the most important science frontiers of the next decade for which a diverse, interdisciplinary trained workforce will be required. These efforts are being done in the face of a changing global climate and increasing global population which will inevitably require more productively grown food, feed and fiber on less optimal (and often infertile) lands a condition already encountered in many developing countries (Tilman, et al, 2002). There is a small but concerted effort under way to harness the root system of plants in an attempt to increase yield potentials of staple food crops in order to meet the projected doubling in global food demand in the next 50 years (Zhang, et al.
A better understanding of these processes is critical for maintaining the health of the planet and feeding the organisms that live on it (Morrissey et al., 2004). Soil is one of the last great scientific frontiers (Science, 11 June, 2004) and the rhizosphere is the most active portion of that frontier in which biogeochemical processes influence a host of landscape and global scale processes. Meeting the Global Challenge of Sustainable Food, Fuel and Fiber Production
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