Prominent effect of soil network heterogeneity on microbial invasion

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that the heterogeneity of soil network structures significantly impacts microbial invasion sizes, emphasizing the importance of considering soil heterogeneity in ecological models.

Contribution

It introduces a network-based approach to quantify how soil heterogeneity influences microbial spread, revealing the critical role of long channels as transmission bridges.

Findings

Soil heterogeneity greatly affects microbial invasion size.

Neglecting heterogeneity leads to underestimation of invasion.

Long channels in soil networks facilitate microbial transmission.

Abstract

Using a network representation for real soil samples and mathematical models for microbial spread, we show that the structural heterogeneity of the soil habitat may have a very significant influence on the size of microbial invasions of the soil pore space. In particular, neglecting the soil structural heterogeneity may lead to a substantial underestimation of microbial invasion. Such effects are explained in terms of a crucial interplay between heterogeneity in microbial spread and heterogeneity in the topology of soil networks. The main influence of network topology on invasion is linked to the existence of long channels in soil networks that may act as bridges for transmission of microorganisms between distant parts of soil.