Aerobic methanotrophy and co-occurrence networks of a tropical rainforest and oil palm plantations in Malaysia

Oil palm (OP) plantations are gradually replacing tropical rainforest in Malaysia, one of the largest palm oil producers globally. Conversion of lands to OP plantations has been associated to compositional shifts of the microbial community, with consequences on the greenhouse gas emissions. While the impact of the change in land-use has recently been investigated for microorganisms involved in N2O emission, the response of the aerobic methanotrophs to OP agriculture remains to be determined. Then, we monitored the bacterial community composition, focusing on the aerobic methanotrophs, in OP agricultural soils since 2012, 2006, and 1993, to be compared to the community in a tropical rainforest soil, in 2019 and 2020.