Skip to content
Ecological Intelligence

Ecological evidence.
Independent perspective.
Explore Wild Lands ↗

Ecological Intelligence / Subject

crop rotation

Peer-reviewed Latin America & Caribbean

Crop rotation changed pathogen signals more clearly than soil diversity

Evidence
Peer-reviewed
Geography
Tropical field site, Brazil
System
Cropland microbiome and pathogens

WHAT THE EVIDENCE SAYS

In a four-season maize–soybean experiment, rotation did not detectably improve bacterial diversity in early seasons. In the fourth season rotation history coincided with lower fum1 abundance in bulk soil, while crop-residue and disease responses pointed differently.

WHY IT MATTERS / OUR READ

Microbial-diversity scores, pathogen DNA in soil and real crop disease can tell different stories; sample more than one biological compartment.

CAVEATS / UNCERTAINTY

Single site and four plots per treatment, with low power for early-season comparisons. No broadly generalizable causal crop-rotation prescription.

SOURCE

World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology — Almeida et al. (2026)
View original evidence ↗

A tropical Brazilian experiment reports mixed, underpowered microbial outcomes.

Read the Wild Lands assessment →
Peer-reviewed North America

For cover crops, ‘more species’ was not the best predictor of what happened next

Evidence
Peer-reviewed
Geography
Pullman, Washington, USA
System
Dryland wheat agroecosystem of the Palouse

WHAT THE EVIDENCE SAYS

A 2019–2022 field experiment compared single-species and functionally assembled cover-crop mixtures across 55 plots, followed by winter wheat. Soil and crop responses depended more on which functional groups were present than on species count alone: an oilseed–legume treatment produced the strongest multifunctionality and subsequent wheat response, while the six-species mixture did not emerge as the best-performing option.

WHY IT MATTERS / OUR READ

For managers, seed-mix richness is a weak stand-in for function. Choose species combinations against the rotation’s actual objectives—nitrogen, rooting, residue, weed suppression, soil biology and cash-crop performance—and monitor the following crop instead of assuming a more diverse mix is automatically more beneficial.

CAVEATS / UNCERTAINTY

The diversity gradient was unbalanced, with only one high-diversity mixture and one fallow control, so richness effects cannot be cleanly separated from composition. An exceptional 2021 drought caused cover-crop failure, the experiment was short, and results are specific to a dryland Palouse rotation rather than a universal cover-crop prescription.

SOURCE

Journal of Applied Ecology
View original evidence ↗

In a four-year Pullman experiment, functional composition—not mix richness—best explained soil and winter-wheat responses; one oilseed–legume combination outperformed the six-species mix.

Read the Wild Lands assessment →

Keep exploring

Follow the systems. Find the connections.

WildlifeLandWaterOceansClimateCitiesOne HealthGovernanceMethods / Monitoring
Browse the archive →