Impact of Rubber plantation on soil biodiversity in Thailand. soil metagenome

Tree plantations negative impact on soil biodiversity has been widely studied when tree plantation encroached natural forests. However, in the case of Rubber plantation, the main tree plantation in south East Asia, it often replaced intensively managed annual crops such as cassava. The impact of this land use shift between anannual crops to a perennial one on soil biodiversity remains poorly addressed. The objective of this study was to assess the respective impact of land use change from cassava to rubber trees and plantation age on soil biodiversity (macrofauna and microorganisms) and activities (metabolic profiles).To address this issue, soil biodiversity were measured along a chonosequence of rubber plantations in Thailand (Chachoengsao) rom 1 to 25 years old compared to cassava fields.