Responses of Microbial Communities and Interaction Networks to Different Management Practices in Tea Plantation Soils
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The notion MEN (molecular ecological network) is introduced in the paper but is not explain.
The lines 147 - 161 and 163 - 236 are not clearly presented.
Author Response
"Please see the attachment."
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
Generally, the manuscript was prepared correctly. Methodology and analysis of results rather don't raise any objections. However, the obtained results do not contribute significantly to the existing state of knowledge. The paper remains rather a listing of results than an integration of the information. An assessment putting the findings into perspective and make a solid conclusion is missing. The authors should emphasize more the novelty and usefulness of the results.
Author Response
Generally, the manuscript was prepared correctly. Methodology and analysis of results rather don't raise any objections. However, the obtained results do not contribute significantly to the existing state of knowledge. The paper remains rather a listing of results than an integration of the information. An assessment putting the findings into perspective and make a solid conclusion is missing. The authors should emphasize more the novelty and usefulness of the results.
Response: It is an excellent suggestion! We have added a Conclusion section to state the novelty and usefulness of the manuscript as “Our results highlighted the responses of microbial diversity, community structure and interaction network to different management practices in tea plantation soils. The organic management practice (OTP) improved the soil microbial diversity, increased the abundances of beneficial soil microbes, and altered the interaction network structure compared with conventional (CTP) and non-polluted (NPTP) management practices. This study provided the theoretical basis and reference for improving soil microbial diversity and enhancing community multi-functionality in tea plantation soil ecosystems through effective agricultural management practices.”in line 341-349.
Reviewer 3 Report
The article is of interest from the point of view of the microbiological diversity of soil microbiota in various types of agricultural practices. The difference in the composition of microorganisms is shown, which depends on the type of fertilizer applied.
Author Response
The article is of interest from the point of view of the microbiological diversity of soil microbiota in various types of agricultural practices. The difference in the composition of microorganisms is shown, which depends on the type of fertilizer applied.
Response: Thank the reviewer for giving such a high evaluation. Thank you very much!
Reviewer 4 Report
Please elaborate on the methods, specifically:
- Section 2.4: include the concise description for the bioinformatics tools.
- Section 2.5: Mention the statistical parameter values and thresholds.
- Section 2.6: what is the p-value for the correlation analysis?
Author Response
Section 2.4: include the concise description for the bioinformatics tools.
Response: Thank the reviewer for her/his advice! We have added the detailed informations for bioinformatics tools. “with a series of bioinformatic tools (e.g., Btrim program, UPARSE, FLASH). ”（line 136）
- Section 2.5: Mention the statistical parameter values and thresholds.
Response: Thank you for your kind reminder! We have added some parameter values and thresholds in this section. “Furthermore, the appropriate consistent threshold value (0.91) was applied to construct networks to compare the different networks under the same conditions”(line 159). The other details are the same as Reviewer 1’s response.
- Section 2.6: what is the p-value for the correlation analysis?
Response: Thank you for this suggestion! We have added this content in Figure captions section as “Figure 4. Correlation analysis between soil properties and bacterial community structures. (a) Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA); (b) Mantel test. Asterisks denote the p-value for the difference: *Difference is significant at 0.05 level. **Difference is significant at 0.01 level. ***Difference is significant at 0.001 level.”（line 557-558）
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
The MS is suitable for publication.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
