Forests provide important ecological, economic, and social services, and recent interest has emerged in the potential for using residue from timber harvest as a source of renewable woody bioenergy. The long\uffe2\uff80\uff90term consequences of such intensive harvest are unclear, particularly as forests face novel climatic conditions over the next century. We used a simulation model to project the long\uffe2\uff80\uff90term effects of management and climate change on above\uffe2\uff80\uff90 and belowground forest carbon storage in a watershed in northwestern Oregon. The multi\uffe2\uff80\uff90ownership watershed has a diverse range of current management practices, including little\uffe2\uff80\uff90to\uffe2\uff80\uff90no harvesting on federal lands, short\uffe2\uff80\uff90rotation clear\uffe2\uff80\uff90cutting on industrial land, and a mix of practices on private nonindustrial land. We simulated multiple management scenarios, varying the rate and intensity of harvest, combined with projections of climate change. Our simulations project a wide range of total ecosystem carbon storage with varying harvest rate, ranging from a 45% increase to a 16% decrease in carbon compared to current levels. Increasing the intensity of harvest for bioenergy caused a 2\uffe2\uff80\uff933% decrease in ecosystem carbon relative to conventional harvest practices. Soil carbon was relatively insensitive to harvest rotation and intensity, and accumulated slowly regardless of harvest regime. Climate change reduced carbon accumulation in soil and detrital pools due to increasing heterotrophic respiration, and had small but variable effects on aboveground live carbon and total ecosystem carbon. Overall, we conclude that current levels of ecosystem carbon storage are maintained in part due to substantial portions of the landscape (federal and some private lands) remaining unharvested or lightly managed.\uffc2\uffa0Increasing the intensity of harvest for bioenergy on currently harvested land, however,\uffc2\uffa0led to a relatively small reduction in the ability of forests to store carbon. Climate change is unlikely to substantially alter carbon storage in these forests, absent shifts in disturbance regimes.
", "keywords": ["0106 biological sciences", "Carbon dioxide mitigation", "Forest ecology -- Oregon -- Oregon Coast Range", "Forest biomass", "13. Climate action", "Carbon cycle (Biogeochemistry)", "Biomass energy", "Forest Biology", "15. Life on land", "01 natural sciences", "7. Clean energy", "Climatic change", "0105 earth and related environmental sciences"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/gcbb.12255"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/GCB%20Bioenergy", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1111/gcbb.12255", "name": "item", "description": "10.1111/gcbb.12255", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1111/gcbb.12255"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2015-05-25T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.5194/bg-15-1933-2018", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-10-06T16:20:10Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2017-11-21", "title": "Straw incorporation increases crop yield and soil organic carbon sequestration but varies under different natural conditions and farming practices in China: a system analysis", "description": "Abstract. Loss of soil organic carbon (SOC) from agricultural soils is a key indicator of soil degradation associated with reductions in net primary productivity in crop production systems worldwide. Simple technical and locally appropriate solutions are required for farmers to increase SOC and to improve cropland management. In the last 30 years, straw incorporation has gradually been implemented across China in the context of agricultural intensification and rural livelihood improvement. A meta-analysis of data published before the end of 2016 was undertaken to investigate the effects of straw incorporation on crop production and SOC sequestration. The results of 68 experimental studies throughout China in different edaphic, climate regions and under different farming regimes were analyzed. Compared with straw removal, straw incorporation significantly sequestered SOC (0\uffe2\uff80\uff9320\uffe2\uff80\uff89cm depth) at the rate of 0.35 (range 0.31\uffe2\uff80\uff930.40)\uffe2\uff80\uff89Mg C\uffe2\uff80\uff89ha\uffe2\uff88\uff921\uffe2\uff80\uff89yr\uffe2\uff88\uff921, increased crop grain yield by 13.4\uffe2\uff80\uff89% (range 9.3\uffe2\uff80\uff89%\uffe2\uff80\uff9318.4\uffe2\uff80\uff89%) and had a conversion efficiency of the applied straw-C as 16\uffe2\uff80\uff89%\uffe2\uff80\uff89\uffc2\uffb1\uffe2\uff80\uff892\uffe2\uff80\uff89% across the whole of China. The combined straw incorporation at the rate of 3\uffe2\uff80\uff89Mg C\uffe2\uff80\uff89ha\uffe2\uff88\uff921\uffe2\uff80\uff89yr\uffe2\uff88\uff921 with mineral fertilizer of 200\uffe2\uff80\uff93400\uffe2\uff80\uff89kg N\uffe2\uff80\uff89ha\uffe2\uff88\uff921\uffe2\uff80\uff89yr\uffe2\uff88\uff921 was demonstrated to be the best combination for farmers to use with crop yield increased by 32.7\uffe2\uff80\uff89% (range 17.9\uffe2\uff80\uff89%\uffe2\uff80\uff9356.4\uffe2\uff80\uff89%) and SOC sequestrated by the rate of 0.85 (range 0.54\uffe2\uff80\uff931.15)\uffe2\uff80\uff89Mg C\uffe2\uff80\uff89ha\uffe2\uff88\uff921\uffe2\uff80\uff89yr\uffe2\uff88\uff921. Straw incorporation achieved higher SOC sequestration rate and crop yield increment when applied to clay soils, under high cropping intensities, and in areas like Northeast China where the soil is being degraded. SOC responses were the greatest in the initial starting phase of straw incorporation and then declined and finally were negligible after 28\uffe2\uff80\uff9362 years, however, crop yield responses were initially low and then increased reaching their highest level at 11\uffe2\uff80\uff9315 years after straw incorporation. Overall, our study confirmed that straw incorporation did create a positive feedback loop of SOC enhancement together with increased crop production, and this is of great practical significance to straw management as agricultural intensifies in China and other regions in the world with different climate conditions.
", "keywords": ["2. Zero hunger", "QE1-996.5", "info:eu-repo/classification/ddc/550", "Ecology", "Life", "QH501-531", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "Geology", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "15. Life on land", "QH540-549.5"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-1933-2018"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Biogeosciences", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.5194/bg-15-1933-2018", "name": "item", "description": "10.5194/bg-15-1933-2018", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.5194/bg-15-1933-2018"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2017-11-21T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.5281/zenodo.16017208", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-10-06T16:21:13Z", "type": "Dataset", "title": "Cashew orchard soil properties, Dodamarg, Northern Western Ghats, India", "description": "Soil properties of cashew orchards of the Northern Western Ghats, India This project contains chemical properties of soil collected from cashew orchards of Dodamarg, Northern Western Ghats, for a study investigating the factors influencing the effects of forest cover, flower abundance, temperature and (potentially) soil composition on cashew pollinators. Taxonomic Coverage:\u00a0Not applicable Geographic Coverage: Dodamarg, Sindhudurg District, Maharashtra, India Temporal Coverage: March 2025 \u00a0 Description of field and lab methods Soil collection: Soil samples were collected from 30 cashew orchards, using soil core sampler. The diameter of the core sampler was measured before soil collection. All soil samples were collected from 10 cm depth after removing all the leaf litter from the ground. From each orchard, 10 soil columns were collected for analysis of chemical properties. Chemical Properties: We estimated thirteen soil chemical properties for all soil samples collected. The following parameters were analyzed by Zuari Farmhubs Laboratory: pH, electrical conductivity (E.C.) at 25\u00b0C, organic carbon (O.C.), available phosphorus (P\u2082O\u2085), available potassium (K\u2082O), available calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), sulfur (S), boron (B), zinc (Zn), iron (Fe), copper (Cu), and manganese (Mn). More details about the data can be obtained from Aditya Satish (adityasatish@ncf-india.org) and Rohit Naniwadekar (rohit@ncf-india.org) from the Nature Conservation Foundation (www.ncf-india.org). File Descriptions: Data file: Dodamarg_2025_Cashew_Soil_Properties.csv We have also included a ReadMe.txt file that explains the data file, akin to the description in the metadata. Description of the columns of the data file: Sl no: Serial number Site: Site ID Code: Site code (General location) Latitude: latitude co-ordinate of the plot (in decimal degrees, \u00b0N) Longitude: longitude co-ordinate of the plot (in decimal degrees, \u00b0E) pH: pH of the soil E.C.: Electrical Conductivity at 25\u00b0C (in dS/m) O.C.: Organic Carbon (in %) P\u2082O\u2085: Available P\u2082O\u2085 (in Kg /acre) K\u2082O: Available Potassium (in Kg /acre) Ca: Available Calcium (in mg/Kg) Mg: Available Magnesium (in mg/Kg) S: Available Sulphur (in mg/Kg) B: Available Boron (in mg/Kg) Zn: Available Zinc (in mg/Kg) Fe: Available Iron (in mg/Kg) Cu: Available Copper (in mg/Kg) Mn: Available Manganese (in mg/Kg) Funding:\u00a0 Godrej Consumer Products Limited Arvind Datar Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies", "keywords": ["Soil chemical properties", "Cashew orchards", "Ecology", "FOS: Biological sciences", "Northern Western Ghats"], "contacts": [{"organization": "Sadekar, Vishal, Satish, Aditya, Naniwadekar, Rohit,", "roles": ["creator"]}]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16017208"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.5281/zenodo.16017208", "name": "item", "description": "10.5281/zenodo.16017208", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.5281/zenodo.16017208"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2025-07-17T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1016/j.agee.2017.01.029", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-10-06T16:15:32Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2017-02-07", "title": "Impact Of Reduced Tillage On Greenhouse Gas Emissions And Soil Carbon Stocks In An Organic Grass-Clover Ley - Winter Wheat Cropping Sequence", "description": "Organic reduced tillage aims to combine the environmental benefits of organic farming and conservation tillage to increase sustainability and soil quality. In temperate climates, there is currently no knowledge about its impact on greenhouse gas emissions and only little information about soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks in these management systems. We therefore monitored nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4) fluxes besides SOC stocks for two years in a grass-clover ley - winter wheat - cover crop sequence. The monitoring was undertaken in an organically managed long-term tillage trial on a clay rich soil in Switzerland. Reduced tillage (RT) was compared with ploughing (conventional tillage, CT) in interaction with two fertilisation systems, cattle slurry alone (SL) versus cattle manure compost and slurry (MC). Median N2O and CH4 flux rates were 13\u00a0\u03bcg N2O-N\u00a0m-2\u00a0h-1 and -2\u00a0\u03bcg CH4C\u00a0m-2\u00a0h-1, respectively, with no treatment effects. N2O fluxes correlated positively with nitrate contents, soil temperature, water filled pore space and dissolved organic carbon and negatively with ammonium contents in soil. Pulse emissions after tillage operations and slurry application dominated cumulative gas emissions. N2O emissions after tillage operations correlated with SOC contents and collinearly to microbial biomass. There was no tillage system impact on cumulative N2O emissions in the grass-clover (0.8-0.9\u00a0kg\u00a0N2O-N\u00a0ha-1, 369\u00a0days) and winter wheat (2.1-3.0\u00a0kg N2O-N\u00a0ha-1, 296\u00a0days) cropping seasons, with a tendency towards higher emissions in MC than SL in winter wheat. Including a tillage induced peak after wheat harvest, a full two year data set showed increased cumulative N2O emissions in RT than CT and in MC than SL. There was no clear treatment influence on cumulative CH4 uptake. Topsoil SOC accumulation (0-0.1\u00a0m) was still ongoing. SOC stocks were more stratified in RT than CT and in MC than SL. Total SOC stocks (0-0.5\u00a0m) were higher in RT than CT in SL and similar in MC. Maximum relative SOC stock difference accounted for +8.1\u00a0Mg\u00a0C\u00a0ha-1 in RT-MC compared to CT-SL after 13 years which dominated over the relative increase in greenhouse gas emissions. Under these site conditions, organic reduced tillage and manure compost application seems to be a viable greenhouse gas mitigation strategy as long as SOC is sequestered.", "keywords": ["2. Zero hunger", "Ecology", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "15. Life on land", "Air and water emissions", "7. Clean energy", "Soil quality", "Soil tillage", "Article", "6. Clean water", "12. Responsible consumption", "13. Climate action", "11. Sustainability", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "Animal Science and Zoology", "Agronomy and Crop Science"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2017.01.029"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Agriculture%2C%20Ecosystems%20%26amp%3B%20Environment", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1016/j.agee.2017.01.029", "name": "item", "description": "10.1016/j.agee.2017.01.029", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1016/j.agee.2017.01.029"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2017-02-01T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1016/j.agee.2018.05.008", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-10-06T16:15:33Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2018-05-16", "title": "Response Of Soil Microbial Communities To Agroecological Versus Conventional Systems Of Extensive Agriculture", "description": "Abstract World population growth has led to a rise in resource demands imposed on agricultural systems, generating an increased global use of natural resources. However, agroecology proposes self-regulation in order to achieve a sustainable agricultural balance. Therefore, considering the rapid responses of microbial communities to small changes in soil use, the objective of this study was to assess the response of soil microbial communities to agroecological vs. conventional systems of extensive agriculture. Soil sampling was carried out in 2016 and 2017 with three different treatments using the sequence soybean/maize (Glycine max L./Zea mays L.) as the main crop: Agroecological (AE), conventional with cover crops (CC) and conventional without cover crops (control). Species used as cover crops were wheat (Triticum aestivum), vetch (Vicia sativa L.), oat (Avena sativa L.) and radish (Raphanus sativus L.). Agroecological treatment showed the lowest total nitrogen (0.18\u202fmg\u202fN\u202fg\u22121) and organic carbon (1.99\u202fmg\u202fC\u202fg\u22121) content of soil, and CC treatment showed the highest value of fluorescein diacetate hydrolysis, with values 63.2% and 12.1% higher than AE and the control, respectively. However, AE treatment also produced the highest F:B ratio (44.8) and the lowest metabolic quotient (1.14), which indicates an improvement in metabolic efficiency and soil quality. No significant differences were recorded in the abundance of fungal and bacterial communities between treatments. Our results suggest that agroecological management is characterised by fungal dominance in soil microbial communities and a higher microbial metabolic efficiency compared to conventional management. These results demonstrate more efficient use of carbon substrates in agroecological systems, which could counteract the negative effect of the lack of synthetic fertilisation and reduced-tillage in the long term. The findings demonstrate that sustainable agricultural tools with adequate management can be effectively used to preserve soil quality.", "keywords": ["2. Zero hunger", "SUSTAINABILITY", "AGROECOLOGY", "https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.5", "13. Climate action", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "METABOLIC EFFICIENCY", "MICROBIAL ABUNDANCE", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "15. Life on land", "https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1", "6. Clean water", "12. Responsible consumption"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2018.05.008"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Agriculture%2C%20Ecosystems%20%26amp%3B%20Environment", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1016/j.agee.2018.05.008", "name": "item", "description": "10.1016/j.agee.2018.05.008", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1016/j.agee.2018.05.008"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2018-09-01T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1002/ece3.6803", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-10-06T16:14:30Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2020-09-22", "title": "Background insect herbivory increases with local elevation but makes minor contribution to element cycling along natural gradients in the Subarctic", "description": "AbstractHerbivores can exert major controls over biogeochemical cycling. As invertebrates are highly sensitive to temperature shifts (ectothermal), the abundances of insects in high\uffe2\uff80\uff90latitude systems, where climate warming is rapid, is expected to increase. In subarctic mountain birch forests, research has focussed on geometrid moth outbreaks, while the contribution of background insect herbivory (BIH) to elemental cycling is poorly constrained. In northern Sweden, we estimated BIH along 9 elevational gradients distributed across a gradient in regional elevation, temperature, and precipitation to allow evaluation of consistency in local versus regional variation. We converted foliar loss via BIH to fluxes of C, nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) from the birch canopy to the soil to compare with other relevant soil inputs of the same elements and assessed different abiotic and biotic drivers of the observed variability. We found that leaf area loss due to BIH was ~1.6% on average. This is comparable to estimates from tundra, but considerably lower than ecosystems at lower latitudes. The C, N, and P fluxes from canopy to soil associated with BIH were 1\uffe2\uff80\uff932 orders of magnitude lower than the soil input from senesced litter and external nutrient sources such as biological N fixation, atmospheric deposition of N, and P weathering estimated from the literature. Despite the minor contribution to overall elemental cycling in subarctic birch forests, the higher quality and earlier timing of the input of herbivore deposits to soils compared to senesced litter may make this contribution disproportionally important for various ecosystem functions. BIH increased significantly with leaf N content as well as local elevation along each transect, yet showed no significant relationship with temperature or humidity, nor the commonly used temperature proxy, absolute elevation. The lack of consistency between the local and regional elevational trends calls for caution when using elevation gradients as climate proxies.Timber production is one of the most important ecosystem services provided by hardwood forests, but clear\uffe2\uff80\uff90cutting causes severe soil disturbance. There is a current need to develop alternative forest management practices to clear\uffe2\uff80\uff90cutting in order to simultaneously promote timber production, preserve biodiversity and enhance forest health and economic value. Here, we experimentally manipulated a Quercus pubescens forest to evaluate the effects of a thinning gradient (i.e., partial tree removal) ranging from 25% to 75% basal area reduction and a logging residue retention (i.e., slash management) on ground\uffe2\uff80\uff90dwelling spider abundance and species richness. These two alternative management practices were compared with clear\uffe2\uff80\uff90cutting (100% basal area reduction) and logging residue exportation methods. In each treatment, we recorded soil temperature and moisture, understorey vegetation cover, richness and functional traits and mesologic factors describing habitat characteristics. We found clear\uffe2\uff80\uff90cutting had a stronger effect than thinning on the microclimatic conditions, i.e., higher temperatures, drier soils and reduced forest buffering capacity. The 25% thinning intensity was sufficient to drastically reduce both spider abundance and richness, but we did not find a more significant reduction when more intensive cutting was applied. This result suggests a threshold effect in the response of spiders to cutting. Significant changes in the functional diversity of understory plant communities in response to basal area were observed, along with strong effects on spider communities. Unexpectedly, slash retention appeared to have little or no effect on the forest microclimate, spider abundance and species richness. This work is intended for forest managers and policymakers and aims to contribute to the development of relevant practices that address current environmental and economic challenges. While our findings provide valuable insights into understudied forest management practices in Mediterranean climates, additional research is required, particularly through multi\uffe2\uff80\uff90seasonal and long\uffe2\uff80\uff90term spider sampling.
Changes in fire regime of boreal forests in response to climate warming are expected to impact postfire recovery. However, quantitative data on how managed forests sustain and recover from recent fire disturbance are limited.
Two years after a large wildfire in managed even\uffe2\uff80\uff90aged boreal forests in Sweden, we investigated how recovery of aboveground and belowground communities, that is, understory vegetation and soil microbial and faunal communities, responded to variation in the severity of soil (i.e., consumption of soil organic matter) and canopy fires (i.e., tree mortality).
While fire overall enhanced diversity of understory vegetation through colonization of fire adapted plant species, it reduced the abundance and diversity of soil biota. We observed contrasting effects of tree\uffe2\uff80\uff90 and soil\uffe2\uff80\uff90related fire severity on survival and recovery of understory vegetation and soil biological communities. Severe fires that killed overstory Pinus sylvestris promoted a successional stage dominated by the mosses Ceratodon purpureus and Polytrichum juniperinum, but reduced regeneration of tree seedlings and disfavored the ericaceous dwarf\uffe2\uff80\uff90shrub Vaccinium vitis\uffe2\uff80\uff90idaea and the grass Deschampsia flexuosa. Moreover, high tree mortality from fire reduced fungal biomass and changed fungal community composition, in particular that of ectomycorrhizal fungi, and reduced the fungivorous soil Oribatida. In contrast, soil\uffe2\uff80\uff90related fire severity had little impact on vegetation composition, fungal communities, and soil animals. Bacterial communities responded to both tree\uffe2\uff80\uff90 and soil\uffe2\uff80\uff90related fire severity.
Synthesis: Our results 2\uffe2\uff80\uff89years postfire suggest that a change in fire regime from a historically low\uffe2\uff80\uff90severity ground fire regime, with fires that mainly burns into the soil organic layer, to a stand\uffe2\uff80\uff90replacing fire regime with a high degree of tree mortality, as may be expected with climate change, is likely to impact the short\uffe2\uff80\uff90term recovery of stand structure and above\uffe2\uff80\uff90 and belowground species composition of even\uffe2\uff80\uff90aged P.\uffe2\uff80\uff89sylvestris boreal forests.
As the development of nature\uffe2\uff80\uff90based solutions (NbS) increases globally, it is important to ensure that projects meet the objective of delivering benefits for biodiversity, alongside tackling societal challenges. However, this is challenging because most NbS projects do not directly monitor ecological outcomes, and those that do often focus on a limited set of metrics.
We identify the most informative and feasible above\uffe2\uff80\uff90 and below\uffe2\uff80\uff90ground ecological metrics for monitoring the ecological outcomes of NbS. We identify possible biodiversity and soil health metrics using a structured non\uffe2\uff80\uff90systematic literature review, and rank these using a scoring system to assess their informativeness and feasibility for monitoring.
Metrics are categorised into compositional, structural, and functional aspects of biodiversity, and biological, physical and chemical aspects of soil health. We group biodiversity and soil health metrics into Tier 1 (the most informative and feasible metrics), Tier 2 (informative metrics with some limitations in scope or feasibility) and Future metrics (highly informative metrics which are currently less feasible to monitor). Tier 1 metrics collectively address multiple aspects of biodiversity and soil health and are the highest priority for NbS project assessments. For biodiversity, 9 Tier 1, 6 Tier 2 and 15 Future metrics were identified, and for soil health there are 11 Tier 1, 6 Tier 2 and 5 Future metrics.
We identify existing standardised methodologies, threshold and reference values for monitoring these metrics, although in many cases, these are not available.
Solution . Our study provides practitioners with a framework for selecting optimum metrics for assessing above\uffe2\uff80\uff90 and below\uffe2\uff80\uff90ground ecological outcomes of NbS relevant to the location in which they are being implemented. We summarise the relevance of each metric to biodiversity or soil health and provide standardised methodologies for collecting data to support ecological monitoring protocols for NbS projects. The information on each metric is freely available as a searchable online database designed for UK practitioners, but with wider applicability.
More diverse crop rotations have been promoted for their potential to remediate the range of ecosystem services compromised by biologically simplified grain\uffe2\uff80\uff90based agroecosystems, including increasing soil organic carbon (SOC). We hypothesized that functional diversity offers a more predictive means of characterizing the impact of crop rotations on SOC concentrations than species diversity per se. Furthermore, we hypothesized that functional diversity can either increase or decrease SOC depending on its associated carbon (C) input to soil. We compiled a database of 27 cropping system sites and 169 cropping systems, recorded the species and functional diversity of crop rotations, SOC concentrations (g C kg/soil), nitrogen (N) fertilizer applications (kg\uffc2\uffa0N\uffc2\uffb7ha\uffe2\uff88\uff921\uffc2\uffb7yr\uffe2\uff88\uff921), and estimated C input to soil (Mg\uffc2\uffa0C\uffc2\uffb7ha\uffe2\uff88\uff921\uffc2\uffb7yr\uffe2\uff88\uff921). We categorized crop rotations into three broad categories: grain\uffe2\uff80\uff90only rotations, grain rotations with cover crops, and grain rotations with perennial crops. We divided the grain\uffe2\uff80\uff90only rotations into two sub\uffe2\uff80\uff90categories: cereal\uffe2\uff80\uff90only rotations and those that included both cereals and a legume grain. We compared changes in SOC and C input using mean effect sizes and 95% bootstrapped confidence intervals. Cover cropped and perennial cropped rotations, relative to grain\uffe2\uff80\uff90only rotations, increased C input by 42% and 23% and SOC concentrations by 6.3% and 12.5%, respectively. Within grain\uffe2\uff80\uff90only rotations, cereal\uffc2\uffa0+\uffc2\uffa0legume grain rotations decreased total C input (\uffe2\uff88\uff9216%), root C input (\uffe2\uff88\uff9212%), and SOC (\uffe2\uff88\uff925.3%) relative to cereal\uffe2\uff80\uff90only rotations. We found no effect of species diversity on SOC within grain\uffe2\uff80\uff90only rotations. N fertilizer rates mediated the effect of functional diversity on SOC within grain\uffe2\uff80\uff90only crop rotations: at low N fertilizer rates (\uffe2\uff89\uffa475\uffc2\uffa0kg N\uffc2\uffb7ha\uffe2\uff88\uff921\uffc2\uffb7yr\uffe2\uff88\uff921), the decrease in SOC with cereal\uffc2\uffa0+\uffc2\uffa0legume grain rotations was less than at high N fertilizer rates. Our results show that increasing the functional diversity of crop rotations is more likely to increase SOC concentrations if it is accompanied by an increase in C input. Functionally diverse perennial and cover cropped rotations increased both C input and SOC concentrations, potentially by exploiting niches in time that would otherwise be unproductive, that is, increasing the \uffe2\uff80\uff9cperenniality\uffe2\uff80\uff9d of crop rotations.", "keywords": ["Crops", " Agricultural", "2. Zero hunger", "Science", "Ecology and Evolutionary Biology", "Agriculture", "Fabaceae", "cropping systems", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "15. Life on land", "functional diversity", "Poaceae", "sustainable agriculture", "Soil", "meta\u2010analysis", "soil organic matter", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "cover crops", "soil carbon", "Organic Chemicals", "perennials", "Fertilizers", "nitrogen fertilizer", "biodiversity"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.1648"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Ecological%20Applications", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1002/eap.1648", "name": "item", "description": "10.1002/eap.1648", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1002/eap.1648"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2017-12-27T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1002/ecy.2199", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-10-06T16:14:30Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2018-02-27", "title": "Temperature and aridity regulate spatial variability of soil multifunctionality in drylands across the globe", "description": "AbstractThe relationship between the spatial variability of soil multifunctionality (i.e., the capacity of soils to conduct multiple functions; SVM) and major climatic drivers, such as temperature and aridity, has never been assessed globally in terrestrial ecosystems. We surveyed 236 dryland ecosystems from six continents to evaluate the relative importance of aridity and mean annual temperature, and of other abiotic (e.g., texture) and biotic (e.g., plant cover) variables as drivers of SVM, calculated as the averaged coefficient of variation for multiple soil variables linked to nutrient stocks and cycling. We found that increases in temperature and aridity were globally correlated to increases in SVM. Some of these climatic effects on SVM were direct, but others were indirectly driven through reductions in the number of vegetation patches and increases in soil sand content. The predictive capacity of our structural equation\uffc2\uffa0modelling was clearly higher for the spatial variability of N\uffe2\uff80\uff90 than for C\uffe2\uff80\uff90 and P\uffe2\uff80\uff90related soil variables. In the case of N cycling, the effects of temperature and aridity were both direct and indirect via changes in soil properties. For C and P, the effect of climate was mainly indirect via changes in plant attributes. These results suggest that future changes in climate may decouple the spatial availability of these elements for plants and microbes in dryland soils. Our findings significantly advance our understanding of the patterns and mechanisms driving SVM in drylands across the globe, which is critical for predicting changes in ecosystem functioning in response to climate change.Understanding anthropogenic influences on soil respiration (Rs) is critical for accurate predictions of soil carbon fluxes, but it is not known how Rs responds to grazing exclusion (GE). Here, we conducted a manipulative experiment in a meadow grassland on the Tibetan Plateau to investigate the effects of GE on Rs. The exclusion of livestock significantly increased soil moisture and above\uffe2\uff80\uff90ground biomass, but it decreased soil temperature, microbial biomass carbon (MBC), and Rs. Regression analysis indicated that the effects of GE on Rs were mainly due to changes in soil temperature, soil moisture, and MBC. Compared with the grazed blocks, GE significantly decreased soil carbon release by 23.6% over the growing season and 21.4% annually, but it increased the temperature sensitivity (Q10) of Rs by 6.5% and 14.2% for the growing season and annually respectively. Therefore, GE may reduce the release of soil carbon from the Tibetan Plateau, but under future climate warming scenarios, the increases in Q10 induced by GE could lead to increased carbon emissions.
", "keywords": ["570", "MICROBIAL RESPIRATION", "Environmental Sciences & Ecology", "Plant Productivity", "Temperature Sensitivity", "ALPINE GRASSLAND", "630", "Microbial Biomass Carbon", "NORTHERN CHINA", "SEASONAL PATTERNS", "MOUNTAIN GRASSLANDS", "Grazing Exclusion", "Tibetan Plateau", "PLANT-COMMUNITIES", "Original Research", "2. Zero hunger", "Science & Technology", "CLIMATE-CHANGE", "CO2 EFFLUX", "Ecology", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "15. Life on land", "INNER-MONGOLIA", "BELOW-GROUND BIOMASS", "Soil Respiration", "13. Climate action", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "Life Sciences & Biomedicine"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.1867"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Ecology%20and%20Evolution", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1002/ece3.1867", "name": "item", "description": "10.1002/ece3.1867", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1002/ece3.1867"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2016-01-11T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1002/ece3.6547", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-10-06T16:14:30Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2020-07-09", "title": "The distribution of herbivores between leaves matches their performance only in the absence of competitors", "description": "AbstractFew studies have tested how plant quality and the presence of competitors interact in determining how herbivores choose between different leaves within a plant. We investigated this in two herbivorous spider mites sharing tomato plants: Tetranychus urticae, which generally induces plant defenses, and Tetranychus evansi, which suppresses them, creating asymmetrical effects on coinfesting competitors. On uninfested plants, both herbivore species preferred young leaves, coinciding with increased mite performance. On plants with heterospecifics, the mites did not prefer leaves on which they had a better performance. In particular, T.\uffc2\uffa0urticae avoided leaves infested with T.\uffc2\uffa0evansi, which is in agreement with T.\uffc2\uffa0urticae being outcompeted by T.\uffc2\uffa0evansi. In contrast, T.\uffc2\uffa0evansi did not avoid leaves with the other species, but distributed itself evenly over plants infested with heterospecifics. We hypothesize that this behavior of T.\uffc2\uffa0evansi may prevent further spread of T.\uffc2\uffa0urticae over the shared plant. Our results indicate that leaf age determines within\uffe2\uff80\uff90plant distribution of herbivores only in absence of competitors. Moreover, they show that this distribution depends on the order of arrival of competitors and on their effects on each other, with herbivores showing differences in behavior within the plant as a possible response to the outcome of those interactions.The study of biodiversity has grown exponentially in the last thirty years in response to demands for greater understanding of the function and importance of Earth's biodiversity and finding solutions to conserve it. Here, we test the hypothesis that biodiversity science has become more interdisciplinary over time. To do so, we analyze 97,945 peer\uffe2\uff80\uff90reviewed articles over a twenty\uffe2\uff80\uff90two\uffe2\uff80\uff90year time period (1990\uffe2\uff80\uff932012) with a continuous time dynamic model, which classifies articles into concepts (i.e., topics and ideas) based on word co\uffe2\uff80\uff90occurrences. Using the model output, we then quantify different aspects of interdisciplinarity: concept diversity, that is, the diversity of topics and ideas across subdisciplines in biodiversity science, subdiscipline diversity, that is, the diversity of subdisciplines across concepts, and network structure, which captures interactions between concepts and subdisciplines. We found that, on average, concept and subdiscipline diversity in biodiversity science were either stable or declining, patterns which were driven by the persistence of rare concepts and subdisciplines and a decline in the diversity of common concepts and subdisciplines, respectively. Moreover, our results provide evidence that conceptual homogenization, that is, decreases in temporal \uffce\uffb2 concept diversity, underlies the observed trends in interdisciplinarity. Together, our results reveal that biodiversity science is undergoing a dynamic phase as a scientific discipline that is consolidating around a core set of concepts. Our results suggest that progress toward addressing the biodiversity crisis via greater interdisciplinarity during the study period may have been slowed by extrinsic factors, such as the failure to invest in research spanning across concepts and disciplines. However, recent initiatives such as the Intergovernmental Science\uffe2\uff80\uff90Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) may attract broader support for biodiversity\uffe2\uff80\uff90related issues and hence interdisciplinary approaches to address scientific, political, and societal challenges in the coming years.
", "keywords": ["0301 basic medicine", "bibliographic analysis", "topic models", "0303 health sciences", "03 medical and health sciences", "conceptual homogenization", "interdisciplinarity", "Ecology", "13. Climate action", "15. Life on land", "Academic Practice in Ecology and Evolution", "QH540-549.5", "biodiversity"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ece3.5244"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.5244"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Ecology%20and%20Evolution", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1002/ece3.5244", "name": "item", "description": "10.1002/ece3.5244", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1002/ece3.5244"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2019-06-01T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1002/ece3.6474", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-10-06T16:14:30Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2020-06-17", "title": "Tree litter functional diversity and nitrogen concentration enhance litter decomposition via changes in earthworm communities", "description": "AbstractBiodiversity is a major driver of numerous ecosystem functions. However, consequences of changes in forest biodiversity remain difficult to predict because of limited knowledge about how tree diversity influences ecosystem functions. Litter decomposition is a key process affecting nutrient cycling, productivity, and carbon storage and can be influenced by plant biodiversity. Leaf litter species composition, environmental conditions, and the detritivore community are main components of the decomposition process, but their complex interactions are poorly understood. In this study, we tested the effect of tree functional diversity (FD) on litter decomposition in a field experiment manipulating tree diversity and partitioned the effects of litter physiochemical diversity and the detritivore community. We used litterbags with different mesh sizes to separate the effects of microorganisms and microfauna, mesofauna, and macrofauna and monitored soil fauna using pitfall traps and earthworm extractions. We hypothesized that higher tree litter FD accelerates litter decomposition due to the availability of complementary food components and higher activity of detritivores. Although we did not find direct effects of tree FD on litter decomposition, we identified key litter traits and macrodetritivores that explained part of the process. Litter mass loss was found to decrease with an increase in leaf litter carbon:nitrogen ratio. Moreover, litter mass loss increased with an increasing density of epigeic earthworms, with most pronounced effects in litterbags with a smaller mesh size, indicating indirect effects. Higher litter FD and litter nutrient content were found to increase the density of surface\uffe2\uff80\uff90dwelling macrofauna and epigeic earthworm biomass. Based on structural equation modeling, we conclude that tree FD has a weak positive effect on soil surface litter decomposition by increasing the density of epigeic earthworms and that litter nitrogen\uffe2\uff80\uff90related traits play a central role in tree composition effects on soil fauna and decomposition.
", "keywords": ["0106 biological sciences", "BIOTREE", "Ecology", "577", "macrodetritivores", "15. Life on land", "01 natural sciences", "biodiversity\u2013ecosystem function", "litter mass loss", "litter traits", "13. Climate action", "decomposers", "QH540-549.5", "Original Research"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ece3.6474"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.6474"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Ecology%20and%20Evolution", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1002/ece3.6474", "name": "item", "description": "10.1002/ece3.6474", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1002/ece3.6474"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2020-06-17T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1002/ece3.8676", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-10-06T16:14:30Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2022-03-08", "title": "Effects of operational taxonomic unit inference methods on soil microeukaryote community analysis using long-read metabarcoding", "description": "AbstractLong amplicon metabarcoding has opened the door for phylogenetic analysis of the largely unknown communities of microeukaryotes in soil. Here, we amplified and sequenced the ITS and LSU regions of the rDNA operon (around 1500\uffc2\uffa0bp) from grassland soils using PacBio SMRT sequencing. We tested how three different methods for generation of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) effected estimated richness and identified taxa, and how well large\uffe2\uff80\uff90scale ecological patterns associated with shifting environmental conditions were recovered in data from the three methods. The field site at Kungs\uffc3\uffa4ngen Nature Reserve has drawn frequent visitors since Linnaeus's time, and its species rich vegetation includes the largest population of Fritillaria meleagris in Sweden. To test the effect of different OTU generation methods, we sampled soils across an abrupt moisture transition that divides the meadow community into a Carex acuta dominated plant community with low species richness in the wetter part, which is visually distinct from the mesic\uffe2\uff80\uff90dry part that has a species rich grass\uffe2\uff80\uff90dominated plant community including a high frequency of F.\uffc2\uffa0meleagris. We used the moisture and plant community transition as a framework to investigate how detected belowground microeukaryotic community composition was influenced by OTU generation methods. Soil communities in both moisture regimes were dominated by protists, a large fraction of which were taxonomically assigned to Ciliophora (Alveolata) while 30%\uffe2\uff80\uff9340% of all reads were assigned to kingdom Fungi. Ecological patterns were consistently recovered irrespective of OTU generation method used. However, different methods strongly affect richness estimates and the taxonomic and phylogenetic resolution of the characterized community with implications for how well members of the microeukaryotic communities can be recognized in the data.
", "keywords": ["580", "species hypothesis", "Ekologi", "0301 basic medicine", "0303 health sciences", "Ecology", "rDNA", "Biological Systematics", "15. Life on land", "03 medical and health sciences", "14. Life underwater", "ITS", "Research Articles", "clustering"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://pub.epsilon.slu.se/27699/1/eshghi-sahraei-s-et-al-220505.pdf"}, {"href": "https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ece3.8676"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8676"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Ecology%20and%20Evolution", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1002/ece3.8676", "name": "item", "description": "10.1002/ece3.8676", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1002/ece3.8676"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2022-03-01T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1002/ece3.9322", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-10-06T16:14:30Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2022-09-22", "title": "Impacts of insect frass and cadavers on soil surface litter decomposition along a tropical forest temperature gradient", "description": "AbstractInsect herbivores play important roles in shaping many ecosystem processes, but how climate change will alter the effects of insect herbivory are poorly understood. To address this knowledge gap, we quantified for the first time how insect frass and cadavers affected leaf litter decomposition rates and nutrient release along a highly constrained 4.3\uffc2\uffb0C mean annual temperature (MAT) gradient in a Hawaiian montane tropical wet forest. We constructed litterbags of standardized locally sourced leaf litter, with some amended with insect frass + cadavers to produce treatments designed to simulate ambient (Control\uffc2\uffa0=\uffc2\uffa0no amendment), moderate (Amended\uffe2\uff80\uff90Low\uffc2\uffa0=\uffc2\uffa02\uffe2\uff80\uff89\uffc3\uff97\uffe2\uff80\uff89Control level), or severe (Amended\uffe2\uff80\uff90High\uffc2\uffa0=\uffc2\uffa011\uffe2\uff80\uff89\uffc3\uff97\uffe2\uff80\uff89Control level) insect outbreak events. Multiple sets of these litterbags were deployed across the MAT gradient, with individual litterbags collected periodically over one\uffe2\uff80\uff89year to assess how rising MAT altered the effects of insect deposits on litter decomposition rates and nitrogen (N) release. Increased MAT and insect inputs additively increased litter decomposition rates and N immobilization rates, with effects being stronger for Amended\uffe2\uff80\uff90High litterbags. However, the apparent temperature sensitivity (Q10) of litter decomposition was not clearly affected by amendments. The effects of adding insect deposits in this study operated differently than the slower litter decomposition and greater N mobilization rates often observed in experiments which use chemical fertilizers (e.g., urea, ammonium nitrate). Further research is required to understand mechanistic differences between amendment types. Potential increases in outbreak\uffe2\uff80\uff90related herbivore deposits coupled with climate warming will accelerate litter decomposition and nutrient cycling rates with short\uffe2\uff80\uff90term consequences for nutrient cycling and carbon storage in tropical montane wet forests.Climate change exposes ecosystems to strong and rapid changes in their environmental boundary conditions mainly due to the altered temperature and precipitation patterns. It is still poorly understood how fast interlinked ecosystem processes respond to altered environmental conditions, if these responses occur gradually or suddenly when thresholds are exceeded, and if the patterns of the responses will reach a stable state. We conducted an irrigation experiment in the Pfynwald, Switzerland from 2003\uffe2\uff80\uff932018. A naturally dry Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) forest was irrigated with amounts that doubled natural precipitation, thus releasing the forest stand from water limitation. The aim of this study was to provide a quantitative understanding on how different traits and functions of individual trees and the whole ecosystem responded to increased water availability, and how the patterns and magnitudes of these responses developed over time. We found that the response magnitude, the temporal trajectory of responses, and the length of initial lag period prior to significant response largely varied across traits. We detected rapid and stronger responses from aboveground tree traits (e.g., tree\uffe2\uff80\uff90ring width, needle length, and crown transparency) compared to belowground tree traits (e.g., fine\uffe2\uff80\uff90root biomass). The altered aboveground traits during the initial years of irrigation increased the water demand and trees adjusted by increasing root biomass during the later years of irrigation, resulting in an increased survival rate of Scots pine trees in irrigated plots. The irrigation also stimulated ecosystem\uffe2\uff80\uff90level foliar decomposition rate, fungal fruit body biomass, and regeneration abundances of broadleaved tree species. However, irrigation did not promote the regeneration of Scots pine trees, which are reported to be vulnerable to extreme droughts. Our results provide extensive evidence that tree\uffe2\uff80\uff90 and ecosystem\uffe2\uff80\uff90level responses were pervasive across a number of traits on long\uffe2\uff80\uff90term temporal scales. However, after reaching a peak, the magnitude of these responses either decreased or reached a new stable state, providing important insights into how resource alterations could change the system functioning and its boundary conditions.We sampled isolated trees and tree clusters from a blue oak, Quercus douglasii, savanna to determine the spatial heterogeneity of fine root biomass and soil carbon across the landscape as a function of tree size and configuration. We aimed to understand how fine root structure enables sustained ecosystem metabolism through a summer of limited moisture and high heat and facilitates resource acquisition during the short period of high resource supply. An additional goal was to provide a basis for upscaling root biomass and soil carbon to the landscape scale. We sampled trees of different size and tree clusters via a stratified sampling scheme that accounted for spatial heterogeneity in root biomass and soil carbon with lateral distance from the tree bole, or cluster centre, and soil depth. We upscaled these estimates using site\uffe2\uff80\uff90specific information from a lidar survey. We found that fine roots and soil carbon are spatially heterogeneous in their landscape distribution and greatly increase with tree size. We also found that Q.\uffe2\uff80\uff89douglasii possesses a dimorphic fine root architecture, uniquely suited to the region's climatic constraints and exhibits morphological plasticity among trees of different size and physical setting. Copyright \uffc2\uffa9 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
", "keywords": ["upscaling", "0106 biological sciences", "Agricultural", "Ecology", "Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences", "Forestry Sciences", "fine root biomass", "Quercus douglasii", "spatial heterogeneity", "Veterinary and Food Sciences", "oak savanna", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "Biological Sciences", "15. Life on land", "01 natural sciences", "3. Good health", "Environmental sciences", "Biological sciences", "veterinary and food sciences", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "soil carbon", "precipitation change", "Environmental Sciences"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1002/eco.1508"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Ecohydrology", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1002/eco.1508", "name": "item", "description": "10.1002/eco.1508", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1002/eco.1508"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2014-06-04T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1002/ecs2.2226", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-10-06T16:14:30Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2018-05-31", "title": "Mycorrhiza in tree diversity-ecosystem function relationships: conceptual framework and experimental implementation", "description": "AbstractThe widely observed positive relationship between plant diversity and ecosystem functioning is thought to be substantially driven by complementary resource use of plant species. Recent work suggests that biotic interactions among plants and between plants and soil organisms drive key aspects of resource use complementarity. Here, we provide a conceptual framework for integrating positive biotic interactions across guilds of organisms, more specifically between plants and mycorrhizal types, to explain resource use complementarity in plants and its consequences for plant competition. Our overarching hypothesis is that ecosystem functioning increases when more plant species associate with functionally dissimilar mycorrhizal fungi because differing mycorrhizal types will increase coverage of habitat space for and reduce competition among plants. We introduce a recently established field experiment (MyDiv) that uses different pools of tree species that associate with either arbuscular or ectomycorrhizal fungi to create orthogonal experimental gradients in tree species richness and mycorrhizal associations and present initial results. Finally, we discuss options for future mechanistic studies on resource use complementarity within MyDiv. We show how mycorrhizal types and biotic interactions in MyDiv can be used in the future to test novel questions regarding the mechanisms underlying biodiversity\uffe2\uff80\uff93ecosystem function relationships.
", "keywords": ["0106 biological sciences", "0301 basic medicine", "2. Zero hunger", "biodiversity\u2013ecosystem functioning", "experimental design", "Ecology", "arbuscular mycorrhiza", "15. Life on land", "01 natural sciences", "ectomycorrhiza", "Article", "biotic interactions", "03 medical and health sciences", "biodiversity effects", "QH540-549.5"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ecs2.2226"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2226"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Ecosphere", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1002/ecs2.2226", "name": "item", "description": "10.1002/ecs2.2226", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1002/ecs2.2226"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2018-05-01T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1002/ecs2.2645", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-10-06T16:14:30Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2019-03-19", "title": "Uneven global distribution of food web studies under climate change", "description": "AbstractTrophic interactions within food webs affect species distributions, coexistence, and provision of ecosystem services but can be strongly impacted by climatic changes. Understanding these impacts is therefore essential for managing ecosystems and sustaining human well\uffe2\uff80\uff90being. Here, we conducted a global synthesis of terrestrial, marine, and freshwater studies to identify key gaps in our knowledge of climate change impacts on food webs and determine whether the areas currently studied are those most likely to be impacted by climate change. We found research suffers from a strong geographic bias, with only 3.5% of studies occurring in the tropics. Importantly, the distribution of sites sampled under projected climate changes was biased\uffe2\uff80\uff94areas with decreases or large increases in precipitation and areas with low magnitudes of temperature change were under\uffe2\uff80\uff90represented. Our results suggest that understanding of climate change impacts on food webs could be broadened by considering more than two trophic levels, responses in addition to species abundance and biomass, impacts of a wider suite of climatic variables, and tropical ecosystems. Most importantly, to enable better forecasts of biodiversity responses to climate change, we identify critically under\uffe2\uff80\uff90represented geographic regions and climatic conditions which should be prioritized in future research.Changes in substrate quality driven by climate, land use, or other forms of global change may represent a strong selective force on microbial communities. Invasion of new taxa into a community through dispersal, evolution, or recolonization could impact the outcome of this environmental selection. Here, we simulated substrate change with a trait\uffe2\uff80\uff90based model of microbial litter decomposition (DEMENTpy) to assess the legacy effects of past substrate quality and the impact of selection by a new substrate on community decomposition activity. Simulations were run with different levels of invasion, including invasion from communities long\uffe2\uff80\uff90adapted to the new substrate. Legacy effects were evident with substrate change for native communities differing in composition. Protein was the only substrate that exerted a strong enough selective force to affect community composition. Legacy effects disappeared when invaders came from substrates similar to the new substrate. Together, our simulations demonstrate that substrate quality changes associated with global change can lead to legacy effects on substrate degradation. In decomposing plant litter, such legacy effects can occur if substrate inputs shift to higher protein content and if invasion is low.The ecological drivers of soil biodiversity in the Southern Hemisphere remain underexplored. Here, in a continental survey comprising 647 sites, across 58 degrees of latitude between tropical Australia and Antarctica, we evaluated the major ecological patterns in soil biodiversity and relative abundance of ecological clusters within a co\uffe2\uff80\uff90occurrence network of soil bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes. Six major ecological clusters (modules) of co\uffe2\uff80\uff90occurring soil taxa were identified. These clusters exhibited strong shifts in their relative abundances with increasing distance from the equator. Temperature was the major environmental driver of the relative abundance of ecological clusters when Australia and Antarctica are analyzed together. Temperature, aridity, soil properties and vegetation types were the major drivers of the relative abundance of different ecological clusters within Australia. Our data supports significant reductions in the diversity of bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes in Antarctica vs. Australia linked to strong reductions in temperature. However, we only detected small latitudinal variations in soil biodiversity within Australia. Different environmental drivers regulate the diversity of soil archaea (temperature and soil carbon), bacteria (aridity, vegetation attributes and pH) and eukaryotes (vegetation type and soil carbon) across Australia. Together, our findings provide new insights into the mechanisms driving soil biodiversity in the Southern Hemisphere.Meiofauna (all invertebrates smaller than 1\uffe2\uff80\uff89mm) are not only sensitive to environmental changes but also contribute significantly to nutrient cycling and energy transfer to higher trophic levels. Despite their importance, meiofauna distribution and ecology in the Siberian seas remain understudied. Here, we employ sediment environmental DNA metabarcoding to characterize meiofauna diversity across the unexplored Siberian seas. We show that meiofauna community structure is primarily driven by river discharge and coastal erosion, which are heavily influenced by climate change, rather than geographical distinctions between the seas. We observed higher meiofauna diversity in nearshore areas where river plumes promoted colonizer nematode communities that are resilient to disturbances. Yet, their dominance may lead to decreased ecosystem stability in the future. This study provides a valuable baseline for meiofauna diversity in remote Siberian seas undergoing rapid environmental change, which will be useful for assessing the future direction and pace of benthic ecological trajectories.Atmospheric iron (Fe) deposition to the open ocean affects net primary productivity, nitrogen fixation, and carbon uptake. We investigate changes in soluble Fe (SFe) deposition from the pre\uffe2\uff80\uff90industrial period to the late 21st century using the EC\uffe2\uff80\uff90Earth3\uffe2\uff80\uff90Iron Earth System model. EC\uffe2\uff80\uff90Earth3\uffe2\uff80\uff90Iron considers various sources of Fe, including dust, fossil fuel combustion, and biomass burning, and features comprehensive atmospheric chemistry, representing atmospheric oxalate, sulfate, and Fe cycles. We show that anthropogenic activity has changed the magnitude and spatial distribution of SFe deposition by increasing combustion Fe emissions and atmospheric acidity and oxalate levels. We report that SFe deposition has doubled since the early industrial era, using the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 emission inventory. We highlight acidity as the main solubilization pathway for dust\uffe2\uff80\uff90Fe and oxalate\uffe2\uff80\uff90promoted processing for the solubilization of combustion\uffe2\uff80\uff90Fe. We project a global SFe deposition increase of 40% by the late 21st century relative to present day under Shared Socioeconomic Pathway (SSP) 3\uffe2\uff80\uff937.0, which assumes weak climate change mitigation policies. Conversely, SSPs with stronger mitigation pathways (1\uffe2\uff80\uff932.6 and 2\uffe2\uff80\uff934.5) result in 35% and 10% global decreases, respectively. Despite these differences, SFe deposition increases over the equatorial Pacific and decreases in the Southern Ocean (SO) for all SSPs. We further observe that deposition over the equatorial Pacific and SO are highly sensitive to future changes in dust emissions from Australia and South America, as well as from North Africa. Future studies should focus on the potential impact of climate\uffe2\uff80\uff90 and human\uffe2\uff80\uff90induced changes in dust and wildfires combined.We have little information on how and why soil microbial community assembly will respond to predicted increases in aridity by the end of this century. Here, we used correlation networks and structural equation modeling to assess the changes in the abundance of the ecological clusters including potential winner and loser microbial taxa associated with predicted increases in aridity. To do this, we conducted a field survey in an environmental gradient from eastern Australia and obtained information on bacterial and fungal community composition for 120 soil samples and multiple abiotic and biotic factors. Overall, our structural equation model explained 83% of the variance in the two mesic modules. Increases in aridity led to marked shifts in the abundance of the two major microbial modules found in our network, which accounted for >99% of all phylotypes. In particular, the relative abundance of one of these modules, the Mesic Module #1, which was positively related to multiple soil properties and plant productivity, declined strongly with aridity. Conversely, the relative abundance of a second dominant module (Xeric Module #2) was positively correlated with increases in aridity. Our study provides evidence that network analysis is a useful tool to identify microbial taxa that are either winners or losers under increasing aridity and therefore potentially under changing climates. Our work further suggests that climate change, and associated land degradation, could potentially lead to extensive microbial phylotypes exchange and local extinctions, as demonstrated by the reductions of up to 97% in the relative abundance of microbial taxa within Mesic Module #1.Dissolved organic matter (DOM) composition exerts a direct control on its degradation and subsequent persistence in aquatic ecosystems. Yet, under certain conditions, the degradation patterns of DOM cannot be solely explained by its composition, highlighting the relevance of environmental conditions for DOM degradation. Here, we experimentally assessed the relative influence of composition vs. environment on DOM degradation by performing degradation bioassays using three contrasting DOM sources inoculated with a standardized bacterial inoculum under five distinct environments. The DOM degradation kinetics modeled using reactivity continuum models showed that composition was more important than environment in determining the bulk DOM decay patterns. Changes in DOM composition resulted from the interaction between DOM source and environment. The role of environment was stronger on shaping the bacterial community composition, but the intrinsic nature of the DOM source exerted stronger control on the DOM degradation function.
Making agriculture sustainable is a global challenge. In the European Union (EU), the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is failing with respect to biodiversity, climate, soil, land degradation as well as socio\uffe2\uff80\uff90economic challenges.
The European Commission's proposal for a CAP post\uffe2\uff80\uff902020 provides a scope for enhanced sustainability. However, it also allows Member States to choose low\uffe2\uff80\uff90ambition implementation pathways. It therefore remains essential to address citizens' demands for sustainable agriculture and rectify systemic weaknesses in the CAP, using the full breadth of available scientific evidence and knowledge.
Concerned about current attempts to dilute the environmental ambition of the future CAP, and the lack of concrete proposals for improving the CAP in the draft of the European Green Deal, we call on the European Parliament, Council and Commission to adopt 10 urgent action points for delivering sustainable food production, biodiversity conservation and climate mitigation.
Knowledge is available to help moving towards evidence\uffe2\uff80\uff90based, sustainable European agriculture that can benefit people, nature and their joint futures.
The statements made in this article have the broad support of the scientific community, as expressed by above 3,600 signatories to the preprint version of this manuscript. The list can be found here (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3685632).
A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.
", "keywords": ["330", "333.7 Landfl\u00e4chen", " Naturr\u00e4ume f\u00fcr Freizeit und Erholung", " Naturreservate", " Energie", "public goods", "ddc:320", "0211 other engineering and technologies", "02 engineering and technology", "SMART targets", "01 natural sciences", "7. Clean energy", "630", "Article", "12. Responsible consumption", "GF1-900", "11. Sustainability", "evidence-based policy", "ddc:630", "European Green Deal", "QH540-549.5", "agriculture", "biodiversity", "0105 earth and related environmental sciences", "2. Zero hunger", "Ecology", "ddc:333", "1. No poverty", "15. Life on land", "320", "Agronomy", "Environmental sciences", "climate change", "Human ecology. Anthropogeography", "13. Climate action", "evidence\u2010based policy", "Common Agricultural Policy"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/pan3.10080"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10080"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/People%20and%20Nature", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1002/pan3.10080", "name": "item", "description": "10.1002/pan3.10080", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1002/pan3.10080"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2020-03-08T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1002/sae2.12031", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-10-06T16:14:36Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2022-11-12", "title": "Frontiers in soil ecology\u2014Insights from the World Biodiversity Forum 2022", "description": "AbstractGlobal change is affecting soil biodiversity and functioning across all terrestrial ecosystems. Still, much is unknown about how soil biodiversity and function will change in the future in response to simultaneous alterations in climate and land use, as well as other environmental drivers. It is crucial to understand the direct, indirect\uffc2\uffa0and interactive effects of global change drivers on soil communities and ecosystems across environmental contexts, not only today but also in the near future. This is particularly relevant for international efforts to tackle climate change like the Paris Agreement, and considering the failure to achieve the 2020 biodiversity targets, especially the target of halting soil degradation. Here, we outline the main frontiers related to soil ecology that were presented and discussed at the thematic sessions of the World Biodiversity Forum 2022 in Davos, Switzerland. We highlight multiple frontiers of knowledge associated with data integration, causal inference, soil biodiversity and function scenarios, critical soil biodiversity facets, underrepresented drivers, global collaboration, knowledge application and transdisciplinarity, as well as policy and public communication. These identified research priorities are not only of immediate interest to the scientific community but may also be considered in research priority programmes and calls for funding.