Soil microbes in long-term afforestations

We examined the effects of 20 year-old Pinus halepensis plantations on the aggregation and microbial community structure of semi-arid Mediterranean soils. We pyrosequenced two phylogenetic markers (16S and 18S rRNA genes) to analyse the community structure of bacteria and fungi in surface soils where pines had been planted on terraces (TR) or terraces amended with organic wastes (TRS), and compared them with those of an adjacent Rosmarinus-dominated shrubland (n = 3).