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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Frontiers in Microbiology

Rotation system reshapes soil profile environmental gradients to reorganize bacterial communities and decouple potential nitrogen cycling functions

  • Wenping Zhang1,2
  • Qinyue Chen1,2
  • Yunguo Li3
  • Yan Chen4
  • Guoyi Yuan1,2
  • Yu Du1,2
  • Bing Wang1,2
  • Xinran Sun1,2
  • Nuo Shi1,2
  • Xuanquan Zhu1,2
  • Meng Jia1,2
  • Yuxiang Bai1,2
4 more authors
  • Xiaopeng Deng5
  • Peng Zhou1,2
  • Ge Wang1,2
  • Na Wang1,2
5 affiliations
  1. 1College of Tobacco Science, Yunnan Agricultural University
  2. 2The Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiome of Yunnan Province
  3. 3Yuxi Tobacco Company Yuanjiang County Branch
  4. 4Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture Academy of Science and Technology
  5. 5Yunnan Provincial Institute of Tobacco and Agricultural Sciences
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Abstract

Inroduction: Cropping systems reshape soil profile environmental gradients, thereby driving the vertical reorganization of bacterial communities and regulating the coupling between microbial communities and predicted nitrogen-cycling (N-cycling) potential.

Methods: This study integrated soil chemical analyses, 16S rRNA gene sequencing, co-occurrence network analysis, PICRUSt2-based functional prediction, and structural equation modeling (SEM) across three long-term cropping systems: unclaimed land (U), tobacco–maize rotation (R), and continuous tobacco cropping (C), sampled at three soil depths (0–20, 20–40, and 40–60 cm; n = 3).

Results: Environmental drivers exhibited distinct vertical shifts, with readily available nutrients (AN, AK, and AP) dominating surface soils (0–20 cm), microbial biomass (MBC and MBN) governing subsurface soils (20–40 cm), and total nutrient pools (OM, TN, and TP) becoming increasingly important in deeper soils (40–60 cm). Rotation buffered vertical environmental changes, increased bacterial richness in the 0–40 cm profile, enriched nitrifying and nitrogen-fixing taxa (e.g., Nitrospira, Sphingomonas, and MND1), and maintained higher predicted N-cycling potential throughout the soil profile, accompanied by enhanced network modularity and robustness. In contrast, continuous cropping reduced surface soil pH, OM, MBC, and MBN (with MBN declining by>60%), promoted stress-associated taxa (e.g., Bacillus and Lactobacillus), and weakened network connectivity and robustness, particularly at 20–40 cm where network fragmentation was most evident. SEM revealed a stronger statistical coupling among soil environment, bacterial communities, microbial networks, and predicted N-cycling potential under rotation (GOF > 0.7), whereas continuous cropping showed weakened associations among these components.

Discussion: Collectively, these findings demonstrate that crop rotation promotes the stability of soil microbial ecological functions by preserving environmental gradient continuity and enhancing network resilience, whereas continuous cropping disrupts microbial network organization and weakens the linkage between resource availability and predicted functional potential. This study highlights the importance of maintaining multiscale environmental and microbial connectivity for improving the sustainability of agricultural soil ecosystems.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{zhang2026rotation,
  title = {{Rotation system reshapes soil profile environmental gradients to reorganize bacterial communities and decouple potential nitrogen cycling functions}},
  author = {Wenping Zhang and Qinyue Chen and Yunguo Li and Yan Chen and Guoyi Yuan and Yu Du and Bing Wang and Xinran Sun and Nuo Shi and Xuanquan Zhu and Meng Jia and Yuxiang Bai and Xiaopeng Deng and Peng Zhou and Ge Wang and Na Wang},
  journal = {Frontiers in Microbiology},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.3389/fmicb.2026.1979930},
  url = {https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2026.1979930/full},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Rotation system reshapes soil profile environmental gradients to reorganize bacterial communities and decouple potential nitrogen cycling functions
AU  - Wenping Zhang
AU  - Qinyue Chen
AU  - Yunguo Li
AU  - Yan Chen
AU  - Guoyi Yuan
AU  - Yu Du
AU  - Bing Wang
AU  - Xinran Sun
AU  - Nuo Shi
AU  - Xuanquan Zhu
AU  - Meng Jia
AU  - Yuxiang Bai
AU  - Xiaopeng Deng
AU  - Peng Zhou
AU  - Ge Wang
AU  - Na Wang
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/14
JO  - Frontiers in Microbiology
DO  - 10.3389/fmicb.2026.1979930
UR  - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2026.1979930/full
AB  - Inroduction: Cropping systems reshape soil profile environmental gradients, thereby driving the vertical reorganization of bacterial communities and regulating the coupling between microbial communities and predicted nitrogen-cycling (N-cycling) potential.  Methods: This study integrated soil chemical analyses, 16S rRNA gene sequencing, co-occurrence network analysis, PICRUSt2-based functional prediction, and structural equation modeling (SEM) across three long-term cropping systems: unclaimed land (U), tobacco–maize rotation (R), and continuous tobacco cropping (C), sampled at three soil depths (0–20, 20–40, and 40–60 cm; n = 3).  Results: Environmental drivers exhibited distinct vertical shifts, with readily available nutrients (AN, AK, and AP) dominating surface soils (0–20 cm), microbial biomass (MBC and MBN) governing subsurface soils (20–40 cm), and total nutrient pools (OM, TN, and TP) becoming increasingly important in deeper soils (40–60 cm). Rotation buffered vertical environmental changes, increased bacterial richness in the 0–40 cm profile, enriched nitrifying and nitrogen-fixing taxa (e.g., Nitrospira, Sphingomonas, and MND1), and maintained higher predicted N-cycling potential throughout the soil profile, accompanied by enhanced network modularity and robustness. In contrast, continuous cropping reduced surface soil pH, OM, MBC, and MBN (with MBN declining by>60%), promoted stress-associated taxa (e.g., Bacillus and Lactobacillus), and weakened network connectivity and robustness, particularly at 20–40 cm where network fragmentation was most evident. SEM revealed a stronger statistical coupling among soil environment, bacterial communities, microbial networks, and predicted N-cycling potential under rotation (GOF > 0.7), whereas continuous cropping showed weakened associations among these components.  Discussion: Collectively, these findings demonstrate that crop rotation promotes the stability of soil microbial ecological functions by preserving environmental gradient continuity and enhancing network resilience, whereas continuous cropping disrupts microbial network organization and weakens the linkage between resource availability and predicted functional potential. This study highlights the importance of maintaining multiscale environmental and microbial connectivity for improving the sustainability of agricultural soil ecosystems.
SN  - 1664-302X
ER  -