Brondani Margot auteur aut IRD Robin A. auteur aut IRD Marchal J. auteur aut IRD Pablo Anne-Laure auteur aut IRD Personne A. auteur aut IRD Desmarais E. auteur aut IRD Cerqueira F. auteur aut IRD Mahé F. auteur aut IRD Degrune F. auteur aut IRD Guillemot J. auteur aut IRD Brancalion P. H. S. auteur aut IRD Fromin N. auteur aut IRD text journalArticle eng text/pdf born digital access The spatial heterogeneity in soil properties as well as in molecular and catabolic diversities of the soil microbial community were investigated by soil analyses, Illumina MiSeq sequencing and MicroRespTM profiling, respectively, in 51 plots of a 20 year-old eucalyptus plantation in south Brazil. The relationships between these parameters were assessed to test whether small scale variation in soil properties and understory vegetation generated heterogeneity in the soil microbial community. The spatial variability of soil microbial community and functioning was shown to be substantial. A greenness index, used as a proxy of the density of the understory biomass, explained very little of the soil microbial parameters. Variability in soil properties (mainly C availability, pH) partly explained shifts in molecular and catabolic parameters of the soil microbial community. Bacterial (and, to a lower extent, fungal) molecular parameters were the main factors explaining the catabolic capabilities of the soil microbial community. But overall, the sequencing data was of little use in explaining C processes in these soils, underlying the difficulty in predicting the contribution of large tree-plantations to the global C cycle. specialized Fungal community Bacterial community Functional diversity Catabolic profiles Understory vegetation Tropical tree plantation BRESIL SAO PAULO 074 082 076 209 106008 [9 p.] 2025 0929-1393 https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010092928 10.1016/j.apsoil.2025.106008 0929-1393 [F B010092928] https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010092928 https://www.documentation.ird.fr/intranet/publi/2025-05/010092928.pdf Accès réservé (Intranet de l'IRD) IRD - Base Horizon / Pleins textes 2025-05-14 2026-06-12 fdi:010092928 fre