Land-use intensification differentially affects bacterial, fungal and protist communities and decreases microbiome network complexity

Summary

This long-term field experiment provides a holistic assessment of soil microbiome restructuring under land-use intensification, integrating bacterial, fungal and protist communities alongside their co-occurrence networks. The findings demonstrate that perennial grasslands maintain significantly higher microbial network complexity than temporary or continuous arable systems, with protists—especially Rhizaria—emerging as dominant keystone taxa across all land uses. The work highlights legacy effects from preceding cropping systems and emphasises the importance of including protist communities in comprehensive soil microbiome assessments.

UK applicability

These findings are directly applicable to UK farming practice, where crop intensification and the conversion of grassland to arable cultivation remain prevalent. The identification of lasting microbiome legacy effects from prior land use could inform UK soil health policy and the design of regenerative farming transitions, particularly regarding the timescale required for microbiome recovery following intensification.

Key measures

Microbial community composition (16S rRNA and ITS sequencing, protist molecular profiling); co-occurrence network complexity metrics; taxa richness and abundance; network connectivity indices across bacterial, fungal and protist groups

Outcomes reported

The study quantified changes in bacterial, fungal and protist community composition and co-occurrence network complexity across three land-use regimes (continuous cropping, temporary grassland-arable rotation, perennial grassland). Network analyses identified protists—particularly Rhizaria—as keystone taxa with disproportionately high connectivity relative to bacteria and fungi.

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