Drylands soil fungal community is affected by land use change and different irrigation practices in the Mezquital Valley, Mexico.

In this study, we used amplicon-based sequencing of 16S rRNA genes and transcripts to characterize the soil bacterial community composition and diversity from natural dryland vegetation (shrubland), maize fields under rainfed, and irrigation agriculture during the dry and rainy seasons. We employed DNA-based and RNA-based analysis to assess total and active bacterial community, respectively.