PS 47-212 - Prairie strips generate rapid, localized shifts in soil bacterial and fungal communities

Abstract: In this study, we investigate compositional shifts in soil bacteria and fungi in row crop fields integrated with prairie strips. Prairie strips are zones of wildflowers and grasses that are strategically planted within agricultural fields to reduce soil erosion, inhibit agrochemical runoff, and increase labile soil carbon. Soil bacteria and fungi are integral to these processes; however, the compositional changes in microbes that underpin these functions remain undescribed. Prairie restoration has been shown to generate rapid shifts in soil microbial community composition over the span of months to years, and prairie strips are likely to cause similar community shifts within agricultural fields. Here we assess soil microbial community structure over the first four years of prairie strip establishment in two long-term row crop treatments at the Kellogg Biological Station Long Term Ecological Research site. We measure bacterial and fungal composition as a function of prairie strip age, distance from prairie strip, and agricultural management regime.



During the first two years of prairie strip establishment, we find that 1) Prairie strip soil bacterial and fungal communities diverge from crop soil communities after just one year, and these changes are mediated by surrounding cropland management (reduced agrochemical inputs vs. organic management), and 2) Beneficial microbial taxa (Verrucomicrobia and Glomeromycota) increase in prairie strips but not in surrounding cropland. We show that prairie strips have localized effects on soil microbes similar to those of whole-field prairie restorations, and that compositional shifts may translate to increased microbial carbon storage and plant N availability in agricultural soils. Forthcoming results included in the final poster will include two additional years of data (year 3 and year 4), capturing bacterial and fungal communities over a total of four years following prairie strip planting.