IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v11y2020i1d10.1038_s41467-020-17688-2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Blind spots in global soil biodiversity and ecosystem function research

Author

Listed:
  • Carlos A. Guerra

    (German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig
    Martin Luther University Halle Wittenberg, Am Kirchtor 1)

  • Anna Heintz-Buschart

    (German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig
    Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Department of Soil Ecology)

  • Johannes Sikorski

    (Leibniz-Institut DSMZ-Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen)

  • Antonis Chatzinotas

    (German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig
    Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Department of Environmental Microbiology)

  • Nathaly Guerrero-Ramírez

    (German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig
    Leipzig University)

  • Simone Cesarz

    (German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig
    Leipzig University)

  • Léa Beaumelle

    (German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig
    Leipzig University)

  • Matthias C. Rillig

    (Freie Universität Berlin, Institut für Biologie, Altensteinstr. 6
    Berlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB))

  • Fernando T. Maestre

    (Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Calle Tulipán Sin Número
    Universidad de Alicante, Carretera de San Vicente del Raspeig s/n, 03690 San Vicente del Raspeig)

  • Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo

    (Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Calle Tulipán Sin Número)

  • François Buscot

    (German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig
    Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Department of Soil Ecology)

  • Jörg Overmann

    (Leibniz-Institut DSMZ-Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen
    Microbiology, Braunschweig University of Technology)

  • Guillaume Patoine

    (German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig
    Leipzig University)

  • Helen R. P. Phillips

    (German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig
    Leipzig University)

  • Marten Winter

    (German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig
    Leipzig University)

  • Tesfaye Wubet

    (German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig
    Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Department of Community Ecology)

  • Kirsten Küsel

    (German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig
    Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Dornburger-Straße 159)

  • Richard D. Bardgett

    (The University of Manchester)

  • Erin K. Cameron

    (Saint Mary’s University)

  • Don Cowan

    (University of Pretoria)

  • Tine Grebenc

    (Slovenian Forestry Institute)

  • César Marín

    (Universidad de O’Higgins
    Universidad Austral de Chile)

  • Alberto Orgiazzi

    (European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC))

  • Brajesh K. Singh

    (Western Sydney University
    Western Sydney University)

  • Diana H. Wall

    (Colorado State University)

  • Nico Eisenhauer

    (German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig
    Leipzig University)

Abstract

Soils harbor a substantial fraction of the world’s biodiversity, contributing to many crucial ecosystem functions. It is thus essential to identify general macroecological patterns related to the distribution and functioning of soil organisms to support their conservation and consideration by governance. These macroecological analyses need to represent the diversity of environmental conditions that can be found worldwide. Here we identify and characterize existing environmental gaps in soil taxa and ecosystem functioning data across soil macroecological studies and 17,186 sampling sites across the globe. These data gaps include important spatial, environmental, taxonomic, and functional gaps, and an almost complete absence of temporally explicit data. We also identify the limitations of soil macroecological studies to explore general patterns in soil biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships, with only 0.3% of all sampling sites having both information about biodiversity and function, although with different taxonomic groups and functions at each site. Based on this information, we provide clear priorities to support and expand soil macroecological research.

Suggested Citation

  • Carlos A. Guerra & Anna Heintz-Buschart & Johannes Sikorski & Antonis Chatzinotas & Nathaly Guerrero-Ramírez & Simone Cesarz & Léa Beaumelle & Matthias C. Rillig & Fernando T. Maestre & Manuel Delgado, 2020. "Blind spots in global soil biodiversity and ecosystem function research," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-13, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:11:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-17688-2
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-17688-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-17688-2
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-020-17688-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Alon Nissan & Uria Alcolombri & Nadav Peleg & Nir Galili & Joaquin Jimenez-Martinez & Peter Molnar & Markus Holzner, 2023. "Global warming accelerates soil heterotrophic respiration," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    2. Long Kang & Rui Zhao & Kening Wu & Zhe Feng & Huafu Zhao & Sicheng Zhang, 2023. "Distribution Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Soil Biological Indicators in Typical Farmland Soils," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-14, March.
    3. Guillaume Patoine & Nico Eisenhauer & Simone Cesarz & Helen R. P. Phillips & Xiaofeng Xu & Lihua Zhang & Carlos A. Guerra, 2022. "Drivers and trends of global soil microbial carbon over two decades," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:11:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-17688-2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.