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Bacteria drive soil multifunctionality while fungi are effective only at low pathogen abundance
Jiyu Jia1, Guozhi Hu2, Gang Ni3
1College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, National Academy of Agriculture Green Development, Key Laboratory of Plant-Soil Interactions, Ministry of Education, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China; Department of Soil Quality, Wageningen University & Research, P.O. Box 47, 6700AA Wageningen, the Netherlands.
The Science of the Total Environment
|October 6, 2023
Summary
Soil pathogen levels significantly impact the relationship between microbial diversity and soil functions. Bacterial diversity is key to soil multifunctionality, especially under high pathogen pressure.
Area of Science:
- Agricultural Science
- Soil Science
- Microbiology
Background:
- Soil biodiversity positively correlates with soil multifunctionality.
- The effect of plant pathogens on this relationship is understudied.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate the impact of fungal pathogens on soil multifunctionality in Hami melon monoculture.
- Determine how microbial diversity and community assembly relate to soil multifunctionality under varying pathogen loads.
Main Methods:
- Collected soil samples from Hami melon sites with 1, 3, and 5 years of monoculture.
- Sequenced bacterial and fungal communities and quantified soil multifunctionality.
- Analyzed correlations between microbial diversity, pathogen abundance, and multifunctionality.
Main Results:
- Fungal pathogen abundance increased with monoculture duration.
- Bacterial and fungal richness positively influenced multifunctionality at low pathogen levels; only bacterial richness mattered at high levels.
- Bacterial community assembly, not fungal, drove soil multifunctionality, with effects varying by pathogen pressure.
Conclusions:
- Shifts in fungal pathogen abundance alter the biodiversity-multifunctionality relationship in agroecosystems.
- Bacterial community assembly plays a crucial role in maintaining soil multifunctionality under pathogen stress.
- Engineering biotic interactions is vital for soil functioning in agricultural systems.
Keywords:
Fungal pathogenMicrobial community assemblyMicrobial richnessMonoculture yearSoil multifunctionalityMore Related Videos
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