RT Journal Article
T1 Identifying biomarkers for shifts in microbial community structure in Irish Grasslands: the influence of context-specific drivers
A1 Fox, Aaron
A1 Barreiro Buján, Ana
A1 Wall, David
A1 Bondi, Giulia
K1 Phospholipid fatty acids
K1 Enzymatic activity
K1 Grassland management intensity
K1 Drainage
K1 Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi
AB PURPOSE: This study investigated the comparative influence of regional/climatic difference in agronomic potential (‘Region'), natural drainage (‘Drainage’) and grassland management intensity (‘Manage’) on soil physicochemical variables, microbial community structure and soil potential extracellular enzymatic activity across 37 Irish grassland sites.METHODS: Soil samples were collected in a structured manner from representative sites, and soil physicochemical parameters were measured. Soil microbial community structure was determined by phospholipid fatty acid analysis and different potential soil extracellular enzymatic activities were measured through both fluorometric and colorimetric assays. Doubly-nested PERMANOVA and ANOVA models were performed in R to evaluate the impact of the examined factors on multivariate and univariate variables, respectively.RESULTS: A doubly-nested PERMANOVA model revealed that each of the three factors exerted a significant influence on soil microbial community structure (p < 0.05). The factor ‘Drainage’ did have a stronger influence on the abundance of the fatty acid biomarker for the arbuscular mycorrizal fungi (effect size = 20.54%) than ‘Region’ had (effect size = 10.05%), with ‘Manage’ having no significant effect. In contrast to soil microbial community structure, individual soil potential extracellular enzymatic activities mostly either did not significantly respond to any factor, or significantly responded to ‘Region’ only (p < 0.05, i.e., β-N-acetyl-glucosaminidase, arylsulfatase and acid phosphatase).CONCLUSION: The study highlights the value of considering localized environmental drivers in studies relating to soil parameters at the national level, to support effective, context-specific management strategies for soil biodiversity conservation and national monitoring schemes of soil biology.
PB Springer
SN 1439-0108
YR 2025
FD 2025-08-09
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10347/43643
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10347/43643
LA eng
NO Fox, A., Barreiro, A., Wall, Bondi, G. (2025). Identifying biomarkers for shifts in microbial community structure in Irish Grasslands: the influence of context-specific drivers. "Journal of Soils and Sediments", 25 (2025), p. 2709–2723. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-025-04095-7
NO This work was conducted as part of the SQUARE project funded by the Irish Department of Agriculture (DAFM) Research Stimulus Fund (RSF), 13/S/468. We also acknowledge funding from the SFI-IRC pathway programme (ref: 22/PATH-S/10607). The authors would like to thank the technical staff at Teagasc Johnstown Castle for conducting soil analysis.
NO Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature.
DS Minerva
RD 24 abr 2026