20.500.12556/RUL-167521 The effect of crop diversification and season on microbial carbon use efficiency across a European pedoclimatic gradient Microbial transformation of soil organic matter plays a critical role in carbon (C) cycling making it essential to understand how land use and management practices influence microbial physiology and its connection to C dynamics. One factor that is likely to impact soil microbial physiology is crop diversification via its influence on belowground diversity (e.g., chemical heterogeneity of C inputs, microbial community composition). However, the effect of crop diversification measures on microbial physiology and potential effects on C cycling in agricultural soils is still unclear. To address this knowledge gap, we sampled topsoil from eight experimental sites covering different crop diversification measures across Europe (i.e., cover crops, ley farming, vegetation stripes). We used the 18O-labelling method to analyse microbial C use efficiency (CUE), growth, respiration and biomass C. Additionally, a second sampling at five selected sites examined whether the growing season influenced the impact of crop diversification. Meta-analysis revealed no overall effect of crop diversification on CUE, microbial activity, biomass or soil organic C (SOC). However, the effects varied with the type of diversification measure: cover crops did not affect carbon processing, vegetation stripes increased microbial activity, and ley farming enhanced CUE. The largest variation in CUE was observed between samplings at the same sites, indicating seasonal dynamics. Temperature, precipitation and photosynthetically active radiation predicted seasonal variation in CUE (R2 = 0.36). While cover crops did not significantly impact C storage in our study, both ley farming and vegetation stripes increased SOC. The overall effect of crop diversification on SOC seems to be decoupled from highly temporally variable CUE in the bulk soil and rather relate to C-inputs. $^{18}$O-CUE cover crops EJP-SOIL ley farming microbial activity microbial physiology pedoclimatic gradient soil organic carbon vegetation stripes biologija tal biotska raznovrstnost sezona mikrobna aktivnost mikrobna fiziologija organski ogljik v tleh transformacija ogljika true false true Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik Članek v reviji 2025-02-26 11:14:44 2025-02-26 11:14:52 2025-02-27 03:56:09 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2025 0 0 15 str. iss. 2, art. 70078 Vol. 76 2025 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno NiDoloceno 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 631.4 1351-0754 10.1111/ejss.70078 227311107 The_Effect_of_Crop_Diversification_and_Season_on_Microbial_Carbon_Use_Efficiency_Across_a_European_Pedoclimatic_Gradient.pdf The_Effect_of_Crop_Diversification_and_Season_on_Microbial_Carbon_Use_Efficiency_Across_a_European_Pedoclimatic_Gradient.pdf 1 F652BD5F12D3648798384E63805E2400 7197d76d3b2b73707253469b89c1598168dadba3335830174c08d1923d6d7525 9a7c9ac5-f42c-11ef-b232-0050569b8976 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=200114 https://bsssjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ejss.70078 1 9a7ef512-f429-11ef-b232-0050569b8976 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=200109 Biotehniška fakulteta 0 0 0