Temporal niche partitioning drives microbial succession and nutrient cycling during green manure decomposition

This study addresses a critical knowledge gap in understanding the temporal dynamics of microbial communities during green manure decomposition and their functional associations with soil nutrient cycling. Through a 360-day field experiment, we demonstrate that temporal niche partitioning drives sequential microbial succession, with bacterial network complexity peaking during early labile decomposition (day 120) and fungal complexity dominating late recalcitrant decomposition (day 360). Importantly, we reveal that microbial network interactions, rather than diversity alone, regulate nutrient cycling, accounting for 41-47% of the variation in soil carbon, phosphorus, and network complexity. These findings offer novel insights into engineering microbial communities for enhanced soil fertility through strategic green manure selection, with direct implications for sustainable agricultural practices.