This session aims to ignite a discussion that will motivate an exchange of approaches and perspectives and stimulate new ideas and collaborations to improve ecosystem services in a changing world. Microbial-ecosystem ecology is a rapidly changing field due to the explosion of technological and analytical opportunities; this ignite session will feature significant scientific contributions that are advancing the field through empirical and modeling research. We know microorganisms are fundamental to biodiversity and material cycling, yet scaling this to ecosystem services remains challenging. Reconciling differences in relevant spatial and temporal dynamics to integrate microbial ecology into ecosystem understanding remains a key frontier across ecological domains. Biological mechanisms that influence biodiversity responses or biogeochemical reactions are often identified through reductionist approaches. Yet understanding how the underlying mechanisms work together to influence ecosystem level responses in a changing world remains a grand challenge. This ignite session will bring together scientists from the built environment, terrestrial, aquatic, empirical and modeling domains to explore how microbial interactions influence emergent ecosystem properties. Sharing research highlights will stimulate a deeper discussion on similarities, distinctions, and opportunities among domains to advance understanding of microbial function beyond system-specific silos.