Deciphering the associations between soil microbial diversity and ecosystem multifunctionality driven by long-term fertilization management

1.An increasing number of studies indicate that microbial diversity plays a crucial role in the mediation of ecosystem multifunctionality (EMF) in natural ecosystems. However, this point remains mostly overlooked in managed ecosystems, especially in agriculture.
2.Here, we compiled promising strategies for the targeted exploitation of the associations between microbial diversity and EMF of agricultural soils using samples from two long-term (more than 30 years) experimental field sites in southern China. The two sites experienced a similar subtropical monsoon climate and fertilization management practices. We used high-throughput amplicon sequencing, structural equation modeling (SEM), and random forest analysis, to analyze our data and validate our hypotheses.
3.We found that soil physiochemical properties and the C-, N-, P- and S-cycle enzyme activities were increased with the increase of microbial diversity. Specifically, a positive linear relationship was observed between microbia...