Fungi in century old managed soils could hold key to the development of soil water repellency

We examined the impact of fungi, using the biomarkers glomalin and ergosterol, on the influence of water repellency on 15 land management treatments, sourced from century old managed arable and grassland sites. We observed strong and significant positive correlations between each of the biomarkers and water repellency. Our results suggest a generic relation between fungi and water repellency.