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Title: Plant–microbe networks in soil are weakened by century-long use of inorganic fertilizers

Journal Article · · Microbial Biotechnology (Online)
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [4]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Nanjing (China); Univ. of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing (China)
  2. Rothamsted Research, Hertfordshire (United Kingdom)
  3. Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States)
  4. Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States); Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China)

Understanding the changes in plant-microbe interactions is critically important for predicting ecosystem functioning in response to human-induced environmental changes such as nitrogen (N) addition. In this study, the effects of a century-long fertilization treatment (> 150 years) on the networks between plants and soil microbial functional communities, detected by GeoChip, in grassland were determined in the Park Grass Experiment at Rothamsted Research, UK. Our results showed that plants and soil microbes have a consistent response to long-term fertilization-both richness and diversity of plants and soil microbes are significantly decreased, as well as microbial functional genes involved in soil carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) cycling. The network-based analyses showed that long-term fertilization decreased the complexity of networks between plant and microbial functional communities in terms of node numbers, connectivity, network density and the clustering coefficient. Similarly, within the soil microbial community, the strength of microbial associations was also weakened in response to long-term fertilization. Mantel path analysis showed that soil C and N contents were the main factors affecting the network between plants and microbes. Our results indicate that century-long fertilization weakens the plant-microbe networks, which is important in improving our understanding of grassland ecosystem functions and stability under long-term agriculture management.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC); National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC); UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council; Inst. Strategic Programme‐Soil to Nutrition; National Key Research and Development Program of China; Distinguished Young Scholar Program of the Jiangsu Province; Youth Innovation Promotion Association of Chinese Academy of Sciences; Long‐Term Experiments National Capability
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231; 41622104; 41877060; 2016YFD0200309; BK20160050; BBS/E/C/000I0310; BBS/E/C/000J0300; 2016284; W03070089
OSTI ID:
1580962
Journal Information:
Microbial Biotechnology (Online), Vol. 12, Issue 6; ISSN 1751-7915
Publisher:
WileyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 48 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Chemical fertilization: a short‐term solution for plant productivity? journal November 2019
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