Nematode and protist community responses in soil to land use conversion from conventional to organic farming

We examine how changing land use from conventional to organic farming influences the composition and diversity of belowground nematodes and protists. We collected soil samples from 70 organic and conventional farmers' fields on clay and sandy soils, and used 18S sequencing to determine community composition and diversity. In order to test effects of time since conversion from conventional to organic management, we used organically farmed soils that had been converted at time periods varying from 1-25 years ago, each being paired with a nearby conventional field in order to account for local environmental differences in climate and soil conditions.