Linking agricultural extensification to soil microbial communities and soil nutrient functioning

Our current agricultural system is non-sustainable due to its negative impact on soil and water quality, and its eroding effect on biodiversity. To promote sustainability while maintaining productivity, we need to explore alternative practices. One such strategy is the extensification of agricultural management, which reduces external inputs while aiming to enhance soil functioning. Nutrient cycling, a key soil function, may improve under extensification due to shifts in abiotic conditions and microbial community interactions. However, the mechanisms by which extensification affects soil microbial communities and their functional interactions in field conditions remain poorly understood. In this study, we investigated how management extensification affects soil nutrient cycling. We assessed nutrient cycling using enzymatic assays, Microresp analysis, and Teabag decomposition, and evaluated the role of abiotic factors (e.g., pH, SOC) and microbial community composition along an agricultural extensification gradient, ranging from conventional productive grasslands to semi-natural grasslands. Microbial interactions were explored using co-occurrence network analysis to assess how management influences the community as a whole. Preliminary results show that fungal communities change with extensification, accompanied by an increase in overall soil nutrient functioning, particularly for decomposition rate. Our results highlight that management choices have implications for soil functioning, and that the validity to use soil parameters to underpin soil nutrient functioning are highly context dependent.