Land cover and geochemistry effect on bacterial communities in tropical soils

Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), which form the matrix of microbial biofilms, play a crucial role in maintaining microbial life. However, factors influencing EPS concentration and production in soil are poorly understood. We aimed to understand how soil microbial communities and investment in nutrient acquisition affect EPS concentration and production efficiency in geochemically distinct forest and cropland soils. Tropical montane forest and cropland soils, that developed from different geochemically distinct parent materials (mafic, mixed sedimentary rocks, and felsic), were collected in tropical Africa and used for a laboratory incubation experiment.