Articles | Volume 2, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-2-101-2016
https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-2-101-2016
Original research article
 | 
09 Mar 2016
Original research article |  | 09 Mar 2016

Soil microbial communities following bush removal in a Namibian savanna

Jeffrey S. Buyer, Anne Schmidt-Küntzel, Matti Nghikembua, Jude E. Maul, and Laurie Marker

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Cited articles

Allison, S. D. and Martiny, J. B. H.: Resistance, resilience, and redundancy in microbial communities, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 105, 11512–11519, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0801925105, 2008.
Batten, K., Scow, K., Davies, K., and Harrison, S.: Two Invasive Plants Alter Soil Microbial Community Composition in Serpentine Grasslands, Biol. Invasions, 8, 217–230, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-004-3856-8, 2006.
Bond, W. J. and Midgley, G. F.: Carbon dioxide and the uneasy interactions of trees and savannah grasses, Philos. T. Roy. Soc. B, 367, 601–612, https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2011.0182, 2012.
Buyer, J. S. and Sasser, M.: High throughput phospholipid fatty acid analysis of soils, Appl. Soil Ecol., 61, 127–130, 2012.
Buyer, J. S., Teasdale, J. R., Roberts, D. P., Zasada, I. A., and Maul, J. E.: Factors affecting soil microbial community structure in tomato cropping systems, Soil Biol. Biochem., 42, 831–841, 2010.
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Short summary
Savannas represent most of the world’s livestock grazing land and are suffering worldwide from bush encroachment and desertification. We studied soil under bush and grass in a bush-encroached savanna in Namibia. With bush removal, there were significant changes in soil chemistry and microbial community structure, but these changes gradually diminished with time. Our results indicate that the ecosystem can substantially recover over a time period of approximately 10 years following bush removal.