Summary Agricultural practices, such as mineral nitrogen fertilization, have an impact on the soil's ability to oxidize methane, but little is known about the shifts in the methanotrophic community composition associated with these practices. Therefore, the long‐term effect of both mineral (NH 4 NO 3 ) and organic (manure and GFT‐compost) fertilizer applications on the soil methanotrophic community activity and structure were...

Summary It is generally assumed that increased microbial diversity corresponds to increased catabolic potential and, hence, to better removal of metabolites and pollutants. Yet, microbial diversity, more specifically richness of species in environmental samples and sites, is difficult to assess. It is proposed to interpret this diversity more in the framework of Pareto's law, i.e. 20% of the species govern 80% of the energy fl...