Microbial interkingdom associations across soil depths reveal network connectivity and keystone taxa linked to soil fine-fraction carbon content

Banerjee, Samiran; Zhao, Cheng; Kirkby, Clive A; Coggins, Sam; Zhao, Shuai; Bissett, Andrew; van der Heijden, Marcel G A; Kirkegaard, John A; Richardson, Alan E

doi:10.1016/j.agee.2021.107559

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Banerjee, S., Zhao, C., Kirkby, C. A., Coggins, S., Zhao, S., Bissett, A., van der Heijden, M. G. A., Kirkegaard, J. A., & Richardson, A. E. (2021). Microbial interkingdom associations across soil depths reveal network connectivity and keystone taxa linked to soil fine-fraction carbon content. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 320, 107559. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2021.107559

Abstract

Microbial communities are the main catalysts of ecosystem carbon dynamics. The contribution of sub-soil microorganisms to relatively stable fine-fraction carbon content may be critical for soil carbon sequestration. Here we assessed bacterial, fungal and archaeal communities at three different soil depths (over 90 cm) in a 25-year old crop-tillage trial in southeastern Australia. We explored the effect of soil depth on microbial community composition, network complexity and interkingdom associations to test whether microbial community