On-farm diversification and landscape composition on soil microbiome diversity

The abundance, diversity, composition, and network interactions of soil bacterial and fungal communities were examined across 28 organic farms on California's central coast to investigate the effects of local diversification practices (crop diversity, cover cropping, reduced soil disturbance, and organic amendments) and surrounding landscape composition. Field measurements, microbial analyses, management interviews, and landscape characterization were integrated while controlling for soil properties and climate, testing hypotheses that: 1) crop diversity would most enhance microbial diversity while reduced disturbance and amendments would more strongly affect abundance and composition; 2) landscape composition would moderately influence community composition through dispersal; and 3) diversification practices would increase network complexity by stabilizing microbial habitats and resources.