Simple Summary Microorganisms and their enzymes are crucial to ensuring soil quality, health, and carbon sequestration. Their numerous reactions are essential for biogeochemical cycles. However, a comprehensive review is lacking to summarize the latest findings in agricultural and enzymatic research. Although the relationships between soil enzyme activities and different soil ecosystems, such as arctic and permafrost regions, tropics and subtropics, tundra, steppes, etc., have been intensively investigated, particularly in the context of climate changes, only a few reviews summarize the impact of climate change on soil enzyme activity. This review aims to highlight the main groups of microbial enzymes found in soil (such as alpha-glucosidases and beta-glucosidases, phosphatases, ureases, N-acetyl-glucosaminidases, peptidases, etc.), their role in the global nutrient cycles of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, carbon sequestration, and the influence of intensive agriculture on microbial enzymatic activity, and the variations in enzyme activity across different climate zones and soil ecosystems. Furthermore, the review will emphasize the importance of microbial enzymes for soil fertility and present both current challenges and future perspectives.Abstract The extracellular enzymes secreted by soil microorganisms play a pivotal role in the decomposition of organic matter and the global cycles of carbon (C), phosphorus (P), and nitrogen (N), also serving as indicators of soil health and fertility. Current research is extensively analyzing these microbial populations and enzyme activities in diverse soil ecosystems and climatic regions, such as forests, grasslands, tropics, arctic regions and deserts. Climate change, global warming, and intensive agriculture are altering soil enzyme activities. Yet, few reviews have thoroughly explored the key enzymes required for soil fertility and the effects of abiotic factors on their functionality. A comprehensive review is thus essential to better understand the role of soil microbial enzymes in C, P, and N cycles, and their response to climate changes, soil ecosystems, organic farming, and fertilization. Studies indicate that the soil temperature, moisture, water content, pH, substrate availability, and average annual temperature and precipitation significantly impact enzyme activities. Additionally, climate change has shown ambiguous effects on these activities, causing both reductions and enhancements in enzyme catalytic functions.

High-altitude ecosystems shelter important reserves of biodiversity, water provision and soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks. Climate change, agricultural encroachment, overgrazing, and mining activities are endangering ecosystems sustainability, particularly in the high-Andean Puna. Increasing food demands in a region with limited agricultural land calls for agricultural intensification. Ecological intensification of agriculture is a framework for increasing agricultural productivity by fostering supporting and regulating ecosystem services (ES) while reducing negative environmental impacts. In this review we examine how agriculture use and disturb the provision of key ES in this ecoregion - food, wool and fiber provision, soil fertility, nutrient cycling, soil carbon sequestration, water provision and regulation, genetic resources, pest and disease control, pollination regulation and microclimate regulation. We also propose a set of technologies, practices and policies to preserve (or restore) the provision of these key ES: long fallowing, soil amendments, conservation tillage, rotational grazing, grassland ecological restoration, conservation of agrobiodiversity, modern irrigation and water harvesting, plant breeding, climate change mitigation schemes and payment for ecosystem services, and adapted traditional technologies. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.