School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences Faculty Publications

Soil microbial community recovery after land levelling is driven more by vegetation biomass than by species identity

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-2026

Abstract

Land levelling is a widespread land management practice that causes severe disturbance to soil structure, organic matter, and biological communities, often resulting in pronounced declines in soil microbial diversity and function. Understanding the drivers of microbial community recovery following land levelling is critical for effective soil restoration. This study examines whether vegetation biomass inputs or plant species identity play a greater role in shaping soil microbial recovery after such disturbance by planting three widely adopted summer cover crop species, sudangrass (Sorghum × drummondii), sunn hemp (Crotalaria juncea), and cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), and a weedy control. Our results show that temporal dynamics, along with vegetation biomass inputs were the primary drivers of microbial recovery, with significant increases in total, bacteria, fungi, and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi PLFAs from pre-to post-treatment (p <  0.001). Microbial responses were more strongly associated with biomass inputs than with the identity of cover crop species. Total soil C increased under cover crops relative to the weedy control (p <  0.001), whereas soil organic matter and total N showed no significant treatment-related responses. Microbial biomass increased substantially during the cover crop periods, although Pre PLFA values did not differ significantly between 2020 and 2021, indicating that these responses were primarily evident within individual cropping cycles. Collectively, we show that densely growing cover crops can rapidly enhance microbial biomass in degraded soils after land leveling; however, sustaining these benefits across cropping cycles may require management practices that support continued biomass inputs and microbial recovery.

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Publication Title

European Journal of Soil Biology

DOI

10.1016/j.ejsobi.2026.103875

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