Forest ecosystems are increasingly exposed to anthropogenic pressures, with forest management practices, such as coppicing, acting as controlled disturbances that can affect soil microbial communities and alter soil processes. Soil microorganisms are sensitive indicators of ecosystem health, and understanding how they respond to management practices helps to ensure the stability of forest ecosystems.

This study investigates the long-term effects (15–20 years post-intervention) of coppicing on the soil microbial community in two forest systems, beech and turkey oak, in the Matese National Park (Southern Apennines, Italy). Functional diversity of microbial community was assessed through enzymatic activity and Biolog® EcoPlates, while structural diversity was evaluated through 16S rRNA and 18S rRNA gene sequencing. Several resilience indices were applied to compare microbial profiles between coppiced and high forest systems. The co-occurrence interactions between soil microbial taxa were also reconstructed by Microbial network analysis.

For both functional and structural data, Sousa and Kaufman indices showed a mean value > 1 in both beech and turkey oak systems, highlighting a high resilience of the microbial community to coppice disturbance. Moreover, the separation of coppice and high forest clusters obtained through hierarchical cluster analysis, based on a visual inspection of the dendrograms related to enzymatic activities and DNA data, was not statistically significant for both systems. This indicates that the structural and functional profiles in control and disturbed soils were largely comparable.

This study demonstrates that coppicing, with the frequency of cutting applied in these forests, does not compromise the stability of soil microbial communities. The findings highlight the potential compatibility of traditional forest management practices with the conservation of belowground biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, offering valuable insights for the development of sustainable forest management interventations.