PubMed · 2026-05-28
Plants growing in more biodiverse communities — meadows, parks, varied landscapes — had healthier microbiomes and suffered less disease, while heavily disturbed habitats near railroads or intensive agriculture showed the opposite. Season and land use both shifted how strongly this protection held.
Higher plant community diversity was associated with increased microbial diversity on wild Arabidopsis thaliana plants across all surveyed sites.
Greater plant and microbial diversity correlated with reduced disease burden, with the effect most pronounced in spring surveys.
Land use type (forest meadow vs. agricultural-adjacent fields vs. railroad-disturbed habitat) modulated both microbiome composition and disease outcomes, with highly disturbed habitats showing the weakest protective effects.
