Assessment of soil microbial functional diversity: land use and soil properties affect CLPP-MicroResp and enzymes responses

Enzyme activities and MicroResp were reliable ecological indicators to assess soil microbial functional diversity. No correlation was found between the diversity indexes, H'EA and H'MR; it was therefore supposed that the two methods may target complementary components of microbial functional diversity. Both methods were effective in capturing differences among various land use categories, in particular H'MR in soils with low TOC content (<1.5%). Moreover, the QRM approach allowed a more detailed analysis along the distribution of the diversity indexes (H'EA and H'MR) indicating that H'EA was more dependent on the selected variables.