Effect of abandonment on diversity and abundance of free-living nitrogen-fixing bacteria and total bacteria in the cropland soils of Hulun Buir, Inner Mongolia.

In Inner Mongolia, steppe grasslands face desertification or degradation because of human over activity. One of the reasons for this condition is that croplands have been abandoned after inappropriate agricultural management. The soils in these croplands present heterogeneous environments in which conditions affecting microbial growth and diversity fluctuate widely in space and time.