Data from: Deciphering the associations between soil microbial diversity and ecosystem multifunctionality driven by long-term fertilization management

1.An increasing number of studies indicate that microbial diversity plays
a crucial role in the mediation of ecosystem multifunctionality (EMF) in
natural ecosystems. However, this point remains mostly overlooked in
managed ecosystems, especially in agriculture. 2.Here, we compiled
promising strategies for the targeted exploitation of the associations
between microbial diversity and EMF of agricultural soils using samples
from two long-term (more than 30 years) experimental field sites in
southern China. The two sites experienced a similar subtropical monsoon
climate and fertilization management practices. We used high-throughput
amplicon sequencing, structural equation modeling (SEM), and random forest
analysis, to analyze our data and validate our hypotheses. 3.We found that
soil physiochemical properties and the C-, N-, P- and S-cycle enzyme
activities were increased with the increase of microbial diversity.
Specifically, a positive linear relationship was observed between
microbial diversity and EMF, which was mediated by long-term fertilization
management via changes in soil microbial communities and physiochemical
properties. Random forest analysis and SEM showed that the important role
of microbial diversity on EMF was maintained even when simultaneously
taking multiple multifunctionality drivers (soil physiochemical
properties, soil aggregation and enzymatic patterns) into account. In
addition, microbial diversity, C-cycle enzyme activity and pH value are
feasible predictors of EMF; these factors were shown to be the main
drivers of EMF of arable soils. 4. Our findings suggest that there may be
a limited degree of multifunctional redundancy in arable soils. The
relationship we observed between microbial diversity and EMF suggests that
management practices that foster more diverse soil microbial communities
may have the potential to improve the functioning of agroecosystems.