ABSTRACT
Converting natural land into arable soils results in losses to the landscapes characterized by a typical indigenous flora and fauna. Frequently, terrestrial ecosystem diversity is being reduced by replacing indigenous flora with a few crops. The ecological consequences of such transitions have been addressed in several studies focusing on land degradation [1], [2], [3], losses of macro-biodiversity [4], [5], nutrient exhaustion in soils [3], sustainability [6], [7] and restoration [8]. Soil microorganisms, including protozoa, fungi, bacteria and archaea, are essential for the proper functioning and sustainability of ecosystems [9], [10], [11]. Moreover, a high microbial diversity is assumed to be critical for the stability of ecosystems
by providing functional diversity and redundancy [12], [13]. Changes in vegetation as well as intensive agricultural practices were shown to affect soil microbial community composition and activity [14], [15] and soil physicochemical properties [3]. The influence of land use and management on soil microorganisms was addressed in several recent studies [16], [17]. However, the information acquired is still not sufficient as a systematic identification of taxa responding to the transition in land use was not done.The studies investigated soils from various geographic sites in Australia, The Netherlands, and Brazil [16] although a comparison of the results might also be difficult due to the differences in the experimental designs and the resolution level of the methods used.
