\citealt{Lennon2018} used DNAse to remove relic DNA from the amplifiable DNA pool, revealing that relic DNA may only have a negligible impact on diversity estimates. However, the study suggests a dampened signal regarding the temporal stability of microbial communities. Similarly, Carini and colleagues demonstrated that the removal of relic DNA from soil samples using propidium monoazide resulted in greater differences in soil communities across timepoints compared to samples where relic DNA removal was not applied \cite{Carini2020}. The effects of relic DNA removal were greater in samples across timepoints than in spatially separated samples that were collected at the same time point, again demonstrating the sensitivity of microbial dynamics on a temporal scale.
As a result of temporal dynamics within soil microbial communities and the persistence of relic DNA or rRNA, caution should be applied when inferring shifts in microbial abundance over time. Suggestions for more robust statistical analyses regarding time-series have been discussed in Coenen et al 2020 and others (24 other REFs).
However, dormant cells may still contain considerable amounts of RNA (23).
As a result, the changes on community diversity metrics due to rRNA from nonviable cells or from biofilms may be less consequential.