Summary
Pesticides are a major anthropogenic input to the environment and a factor in global change that puts pressure on soil microbial communities. However, the effects of different rates of pesticide application on soils remain poorly understood. This study investigates how abrupt versus gradual pesticide applications influence soil bacterial and fungal communities. Employing high-throughput sequencing, we examined the microbial diversity and community composition in response to ten commonly used pesticides. Bacterial communities exhibited minimal changes across treatments, whereas fungal communities responded strongly to pesticide exposure. Gradual applications reduced the relative abundance of dominant fungal taxa, resulting in an overall increase in community evenness. This effect was partic
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