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A Lipid Extraction and Analysis Method for Characterizing Soil Microbes in Experiments with Many Samples

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Published on: July 16, 2017

Fertilization regulates global thresholds in soil bacteria.

Cai Chen^1,2, Shu-Le Li^1,2, Qing-Lin Chen^1,2,3

¹Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Ningbo Observation and Research Station, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen, People's Republic of China.

Global Change Biology

|August 17, 2024

Summary

Fertilization impacts soil microbiomes globally, but its influence on environmental thresholds is complex. Microbial diversity responses depend on interactions between nitrogen addition, pH, and temperature, revealing non-linear patterns.

Keywords:

agricultural management bacteriome explainable artificial intelligence machine learning soil

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Last Updated: Jun 16, 2025

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Area of Science:

Soil Science
Microbiology
Ecology

Background:

Global soil microbiomes are shaped by environmental thresholds.
Fertilization is a major factor influencing terrestrial soil microbiomes worldwide.
The effect of fertilization on global soil microbiome thresholds remains poorly understood.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate how fertilization influences global thresholds in soil microbiomes.
To identify key environmental factors and their interactions driving microbial community responses to fertilization.
To understand the non-linear patterns in soil bacterial diversity under fertilization.

Main Methods:

Utilized optimized machine learning models with Shapley additive explanations.
Analyzed a large dataset comprising 10,907 soil samples from 24 countries.
Examined interactions among nitrogen (N) addition, pH, mean annual temperature, soil organic carbon, and total nitrogen.

Main Results:

Microbial community response to fertilization is highly context-dependent.
Non-linear patterns in soil bacterial diversity are driven by interactions between N addition, pH, and temperature.
A specific soil pH range (5.2-6.6) showed positive responses, with temperature's influence varying based on pH.
Threshold effects of soil organic carbon and total nitrogen were observed, modulated by temperature and N addition.

Conclusions:

Complex environmental interactions, particularly N addition, pH, and temperature, critically control soil bacterial diversity under fertilization.
Fertilization's impact on soil microbiomes is not uniform and is governed by non-linear environmental thresholds.
Understanding these interactions is crucial for predicting and managing soil microbial communities in a changing world.