Functional genes related to N and P cycling in degraded and restored areas from Brazilian drylands

There has been widespread application of grazing exclusion in soil conservation, particularly in semiarid regions. However, it is unclear how grazing exclusion reduces the negative effects of overgrazing on functional genes related to essential nutrient cycles, such as N and P, in the Caatinga biome. This study evaluated the impact of long-term overgrazing and grazing exclusion on the soil microbial functional pools related to N and P cycling compared to native Caatinga soil. There were significant variations in the abundance of functional genes across the three areas (p