16S metabarcoding analysis of grassland soil in the DivResource Experiment

We aimed to decipher the (interactive) impact of fertilizer application and plant diversity manipulation on bacterial diversity, and how these changes differ with seasonal variation. We analyzed bacterial diversity three times in the growing period in a 11-year old grassland experiment, in which we manipulated fertilization (either fertilized twice a year or no fertilization at all) and setup different levels of plant species richness (1, 2, and 4 plant species). We also determined soil properties and plant biomass production to better understand parameters underlying shifts in bacterial diversity.