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.
1
Higher plant community diversity was associated with increased microbial diversity on wild Arabidopsis thaliana plants across all surveyed sites.
2
Greater plant and microbial diversity correlated with reduced disease burden, with the effect most pronounced in spring surveys.
3
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.
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