Summary
This long-term field study (25+ years) investigated how soil community assembly processes regulate microbial functional potential in agricultural soils under contrasting fertilisation regimes. Using high-throughput sequencing and functional gene profiling, the authors demonstrated that balanced NPK fertilisation enhanced stochastic assembly of bacterial, fungal, and protist communities whilst increasing nematode determinism, ultimately strengthening soil microbial functional capacity through network stability mechanisms. Conversely, phosphorus-deficient (NK) fertilisation promoted different assembly trajectories across organism groups, enhancing functional potential through increased β-diversity, suggesting that soil environmental conditions shape both community assembly and ecosystem functioning through distinct pathways.
Regional applicability
The findings may have limited direct applicability to UK arable systems, as long-term fertilisation responses vary substantially with soil type, climate, and management history; however, the mechanistic framework linking community assembly to functional potential could inform UK soil health monitoring and fertiliser strategy under changing nutrient availability scenarios.
Key measures
Normalised stochasticity ratio of microbial communities; abundance of functional genes for biogeochemical cycling (GeoChip profiling); community diversity metrics; network stability; soil nutrient stoichiometry; β-diversity of biotic communities
Outcomes reported
The study characterised how bacterial, fungal, protist, and nematode community assembly processes regulate soil microbial functional potential for carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulphur cycling over 25 years under different fertilisation treatments. It identified dual regulatory mechanisms whereby balanced (NPK) versus phosphorus-deficient (NK) fertilisation influenced community assembly patterns, diversity, and network stability to modulate soil microbial functional capacity.
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