Century long fertilization reduces stochasticity controlling grassland microbial community succession

Summary

This field-based study leveraged a century-long fertilisation experiment to investigate how nutrient management shapes grassland soil microbial community assembly. The research suggests that prolonged fertilisation regimes reduce the role of stochastic processes in microbial succession, potentially favouring more deterministic community assembly pathways. The findings contribute to understanding how agricultural management practices structure soil microbial ecology at temporal scales rarely available in ecological research.

UK applicability

Directly applicable to UK grassland and pasture management, given the study's location and focus on fertilisation practices common to British livestock farming. The findings may inform nutrient stewardship policy and long-term soil health outcomes under different fertilisation intensities.

Key measures

Microbial community composition and diversity (as suggested by molecular profiling); stochasticity indices in community succession; fertilisation treatment effects over ~100 years

Outcomes reported

The study examined how a century of contrasting fertilisation regimes influenced grassland microbial community composition, diversity, and successional dynamics. It measured whether sustained nutrient inputs reduced stochastic (random) processes governing microbial community assembly.

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