Functional diversity of soil microbial communities increases with ecosystem development

Tord Ranheim Sveen (), Maria Viketoft, Jan Bengtsson, Joachim Strengbom, Justine Lejoly, Franz Buegger, Karin Pritsch, Joachim Fritscher, Falk Hildebrand, Ernest Osburn, S. Emilia Hannula and Mo Bahram
Additional contact information
Tord Ranheim Sveen: Ulls väg 16, Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Maria Viketoft: Ulls väg 16, Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Jan Bengtsson: Ulls väg 16, Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Joachim Strengbom: Ulls väg 16, Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Justine Lejoly: 6700 AB, Department of Terrestrial Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, PO Box 50
Franz Buegger: D – 85764, Research Unit for Environmental Simulation, Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health, Ingolstaedter Landstraße 1
Karin Pritsch: D – 85764, Research Unit for Environmental Simulation, Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health, Ingolstaedter Landstraße 1
Joachim Fritscher: Norwich Research Park, Gut Health and Microbes Program, Quadram Institute
Falk Hildebrand: Norwich Research Park, Gut Health and Microbes Program, Quadram Institute
Ernest Osburn: University of Kentucky, Department of Plant and Soil Sciences
S. Emilia Hannula: 6700 AB, Department of Terrestrial Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, PO Box 50
Mo Bahram: Ulls väg 16, Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-16

Abstract: Abstract Land abandonment is the single largest process of land-use change in the Global North driving succession and afforestation at continental scales, but assessing its impacts on soil microbial communities remains a challenge. Here, we establish a nationwide successional gradient of paired grassland and forest sites to track developments in microbial structure and functioning following land abandonment and gradual land-use change to forests. We show that microbes generally respond through threshold dynamics, leading to increasing functional but decreasing taxonomic diversity. Succession also entailed specialization of microbial nutrient (C-N-P) cycling genetic repertoires while decreasing genetic redundancy. This highlights a putative trade-off between two desirable ecosystem properties: functional diversity and functional redundancy. Fungal functional diversity underpins higher microbial C-cycling capacity, underscoring the link between functional traits and ecosystem processes. Changing litter quality similarly provides a mechanistic link between plant and microbial communities despite otherwise largely decoupled successional developments above- and belowground. While land abandonment is frequently touted as an opportunity to increase biodiversity and carbon storage, our results show that deeper knowledge about the multifaceted development of soil microbial communities and their links to plant communities during succession may be needed to fully grasp the impacts of global land abandonment processes.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-66544-8

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