Impact of lime amendment on the soil microbiome in Nova Scotia

Nova Scotian forests are chronically acidified due to past acid rain events resulting in lower soil base cations, forest productivity and biodiversity. The current remediation strategy is to supplement the environment with crushed rock (limestone, dolomite or basalt) to replenish the leached base cations. This study analyzed the microbiomes of both lime amended and not amended soils to identify any differences in microbial composition. There are several bacteria that are identified as differentially abundant between the maddened and non-amdended samples; however, little is known about their function in the soil microbiome as a whole.