Organisms throughout the tree of life accumulate chemical resources, in particular forms or compartments, to secure their availability for future use. Here we review microbial storage and its ecological significance by assembling several rich but disconnected lines of research in microbiology, biogeochemistry, and the ecology of macroscopic organisms. Evidence is drawn from various systems, but we pay particular attention to soils, where microorganisms play crucial roles in global element cycles. An assembly of genus-level data demonstrates the likely prevalence of storage traits in soil. We provide a theoretical basis for microbial storage ecology by distinguishing a spectrum of storage strategies ranging from surplus storage (storage of abundant resources that are not immediately required) to reserve storage (storage of limited resources at the cost of other metabolic functions). This distinction highlights that microorganisms can invest in storage at times of surplus and under conditions of scarcity. We then align storage with trait-based microbial life-history strategies, leading to the hypothesis that ruderal species, which are adapted to disturbance, rely less on storage than microorganisms adapted to stress or high competition. We explore the implications of storage for soil biogeochemistry, microbial biomass, and element transformations and present a process-based model of intracellular carbon storage. Our model indicates that storage can mitigate against stoichiometric imbalances, thereby enhancing biomass growth and resource-use efficiency in the face of unbalanced resources. Given the central roles of microbes in biogeochemical cycles, we propose that microbial storage may be influential on macroscopic scales, from carbon cycling to ecosystem stability.
The subordinate insurance hypothesis suggests that highly diverse communities contain greater numbers of subordinate species than less diverse communities. It has previously been reported that subordinate species can improve grassland productivity during drought, but the underlying mechanisms remain undetermined.
Using a combination of subordinate species removal and summer drought, we show that soil processes play a critical role in community resistance to drought. Interestingly, subordinate species drive soil microbial community structure and largely mitigate the effect of drought on grassland soil functioning. Our results highlight subordinate species in shifting the balance within the phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) microbial community towards more fungal dominance.
Fungal communities promoted by subordinate species were more resistant to drought and maintained higher rates of litter decomposition and soil respiration. These results emphasize the important role of subordinate species in mitigating drought effects on soil ecosystem functions. Reciprocal effects between fungi and subordinate species explain also how subordinate species better resisted to drought conditions.
Our results point to a delayed plant\uffe2\uff80\uff93soil feedback following environmental perturbation. Additionally, they extend the diversity insurance hypothesis by showing that more diverse communities not only contain species well adapted to perturbations, but also species with higher impacts on soil microbial communities and related ecosystem functions.
", "keywords": ["2. Zero hunger", "0106 biological sciences", "570", "13. Climate action", "[SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes", "500", "15. Life on land", "01 natural sciences", "6. Clean water"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.12467"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Functional%20Ecology", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1111/1365-2435.12467", "name": "item", "description": "10.1111/1365-2435.12467", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1111/1365-2435.12467"}, {"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": "10.1371/journal.pone.0149949", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-04T16:19:52Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2016-02-29", "title": "Cacao Cultivation Under Diverse Shade Tree Cover Allows High Carbon Storage And Sequestration Without Yield Losses", "description": "One of the main drivers of tropical forest loss is their conversion to oil palm, soy or cacao plantations with low biodiversity and greatly reduced carbon storage. Southeast Asian cacao plantations are often established under shade tree cover, but are later converted to non-shaded monocultures to avoid resource competition. We compared three co-occurring cacao cultivation systems (3 replicate stands each) with different shade intensity (non-shaded monoculture, cacao with the legume Gliricidia sepium shade trees, and cacao with several shade tree species) in Sulawesi (Indonesia) with respect to above- and belowground biomass and productivity, and cacao bean yield. Total biomass C stocks (above- and belowground) increased fivefold from the monoculture to the multi-shade tree system (from 11 to 57 Mg ha-1), total net primary production rose twofold (from 9 to 18 Mg C ha-1 yr-1). This increase was associated with a 6fold increase in aboveground biomass, but only a 3.5fold increase in root biomass, indicating a clear shift in C allocation to aboveground tree organs with increasing shade for both cacao and shade trees. Despite a canopy cover increase from 50 to 93%, cacao bean yield remained invariant across the systems (variation: 1.1-1.2 Mg C ha-1 yr-1). The monocultures had a twice as rapid leaf turnover suggesting that shading reduces the exposure of cacao to atmospheric drought, probably resulting in greater leaf longevity. Thus, contrary to general belief, cacao bean yield does not necessarily decrease under shading which seems to reduce physical stress. If planned properly, cacao plantations under a shade tree cover allow combining high yield with benefits for carbon sequestration and storage, production system stability under stress, and higher levels of animal and plant diversity.", "keywords": ["0301 basic medicine", "Carbon Sequestration", "Science", "Forests", "Plant Roots", "Trees", "sfb990_journalarticles", "Soil", "03 medical and health sciences", "Biomass", "2. Zero hunger", "Cacao", "Principal Component Analysis", "Geography", "Q", "R", "Agriculture", "Biodiversity", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "15. Life on land", "Carbon", "Indonesia", "Linear Models", "Medicine", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "Plant Shoots", "Research Article"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0149949"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/PLOS%20ONE", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1371/journal.pone.0149949", "name": "item", "description": "10.1371/journal.pone.0149949", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1371/journal.pone.0149949"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2016-02-29T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1111/1365-2435.12525", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-04T16:18:52Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2015-07-23", "title": "Soil Acidification Exerts A Greater Control On Soil Respiration Than Soil Nitrogen Availability In Grasslands Subjected To Long-Term Nitrogen Enrichment", "description": "Summary
Terrestrial ecosystems worldwide are receiving increasing amounts of biologically reactive nitrogen (N) as a consequence of anthropogenic activities. This intended or unintended fertilization can have a wide\uffe2\uff80\uff90range of impacts on biotic communities and hence on soil respiration.
Reduction in below\uffe2\uff80\uff90ground carbon (C) allocation induced by high N availability has been assumed to be a major mechanism determining the effects of N enrichment on soil respiration. In addition to increasing available N, however, N enrichment causes soil acidification, which may also affect root and microbial activities. The relative importance of increased N availability vs. soil acidification on soil respiration in natural ecosystems experiencing N enrichment is unclear.
We conducted a 12\uffe2\uff80\uff90year N enrichment experiment and a 4\uffe2\uff80\uff90year complementary acid addition experiment in a semi\uffe2\uff80\uff90arid Inner Mongolian grassland. We found that N enrichment had contrasting effects on root and microbial respiration. N enrichment significantly increased root biomass, root N content and specific root respiration, thereby promoting root respiration. In contrast, N enrichment significantly suppressed microbial respiration likely by reducing total microbial biomass and changing the microbial community composition.
The effect on root activities was due to both soil acidity and increased available N, while the effect on microbes primarily stemmed from soil acidity, which was further confirmed by results from the acid addition experiment. Our results indicate that soil acidification exerts a greater control than soil N availability on soil respiration in grasslands experiencing long\uffe2\uff80\uff90term N enrichment.
These findings suggest that N\uffe2\uff80\uff90induced soil acidification should be included in predicting terrestrial ecosystem C balance under future N deposition scenarios.
", "keywords": ["2. Zero hunger", "13. Climate action", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "15. Life on land"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.12525"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Functional%20Ecology", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1111/1365-2435.12525", "name": "item", "description": "10.1111/1365-2435.12525", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1111/1365-2435.12525"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2015-08-18T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1111/1365-2435.14178", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-04T16:18:52Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2022-09-10", "title": "Nitrogen loading enhances phosphorus limitation in terrestrial ecosystems with implications for soil carbon cycling", "description": "Abstract
Increased human\uffe2\uff80\uff90derived nitrogen (N) loading in terrestrial ecosystems has caused widespread ecosystem\uffe2\uff80\uff90level phosphorus (P) limitation. In response, plants and soil micro\uffe2\uff80\uff90organisms adopt a series of P\uffe2\uff80\uff90acquisition strategies to offset N loading\uffe2\uff80\uff90induced P limitation. Many of these strategies impose costs on carbon (C) allocation by plants and soil micro\uffe2\uff80\uff90organisms; however, it remains unclear how P\uffe2\uff80\uff90acquisition strategies affect soil C cycling. Herein, we review the literature on the effects of N loading on P limitation and outline a conceptual overview of how plant and microbial P\uffe2\uff80\uff90acquisition strategies may affect soil organic carbon (SOC) stabilization and decomposition in terrestrial ecosystems.
Excessive input of N significantly enhances plant biomass production, soil acidification, and produces plant litterfall with high N/P ratios, which can aggravate ecosystem\uffe2\uff80\uff90level P limitation.
Long\uffe2\uff80\uff90term N loading can cause plants and soil micro\uffe2\uff80\uff90organisms to alter their functional traits to increase P acquisition. Plants can release carboxylate exudates and phosphatases, modify root morphological traits, facilitate the formation of symbiotic associations with mycorrhizal fungi and stimulate the abundance of P\uffe2\uff80\uff90mineralizing and P\uffe2\uff80\uff90solubilizing micro\uffe2\uff80\uff90organisms. Releasing carboxylate exudates and phosphatases could accelerate SOC decomposition, whereas changing symbiotic associations and root morphological traits (e.g. an increase in fine root length) may contribute to higher SOC stabilization. Increased relative abundances of P\uffe2\uff80\uff90mineralizing and P\uffe2\uff80\uff90solubilizing bacteria can accelerate P mining and SOC decay, which may decrease microbial C use efficiency and subsequently lower SOC sequestration.
The trade\uffe2\uff80\uff90offs between different plant P\uffe2\uff80\uff90acquisition strategies under N loading should be among future research priorities due to their cascading impacts on soil C storage. Quantifying ecosystem thresholds for P adaption to increased N loading is important because P\uffe2\uff80\uff90acquisition strategies are effective when N loading is below the N threshold. Moreover, understanding the response of P\uffe2\uff80\uff90acquisition strategies at different levels of native soil N availability could provide insight to divergent P\uffe2\uff80\uff90acquisition strategies across sites and ecosystems. Altogether, P\uffe2\uff80\uff90acquisition strategies should be explicitly considered in Earth System Models to generate more realistic predictions of the effects of N loading on soil C cycling.
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Ecological processes such as seed dispersal or plant\uffe2\uff80\uff93plant interactions and environmental constraints such as climate or soil heterogeneity are known to influence establishment, and thus the spatial patterns of plant communities and populations. In this study, we hypothesized that key functional traits such as the specific leaf area (SLA), reproductive ratio (reproductive/vegetative biomass), seed mass and maximum plant height would influence the spatial patterns of individual species in annual, gypsophilous plant communities, and that these effects would be modulated by both the soil surface structure (biocrust) and climate (precipitation) conditions.
We mapped the spatial patterns of all plants found in six 1\uffe2\uff80\uff89\uffc3\uff97\uffe2\uff80\uff891\uffc2\uffa0m plots (more than 1000 individuals per plot) in both the seedling (autumn) and adult stages (spring) under two biocrust experimental conditions (intact vs. disturbed biocrust) during two consecutive years which were contrasted in term of precipitation (dry year and wet year). To assess the spatial patterns of seedlings and adults, we fitted four different spatial point pattern models (i.e. Poisson, inhomogeneous Poisson, Poisson cluster and inhomogeneous Poisson cluster processes) to each of the 242 populations of the 26 most abundant species that had more than 15 individuals per plot.
Most seedling populations exhibited clustered spatial patterns that persisted in the adult stage, which suggests that short\uffe2\uff80\uff90distance dispersal is an adaptive trait for soil specialists such as gypsophilous plants. One\uffe2\uff80\uff90third of the populations fitted an inhomogeneous model best but the physical structure of the biocrust was not related to them. More importantly, we found a connection between the functional strategies of species and the spatial distribution of plants. In particular, during the dry year, irrespective of the biocrust conditions, species with a high SLA and high Rep/Veg mainly exhibited clustered spatial patterns, whereas low SLA and low Rep/Veg were associated with random distributions. Species with heavy and light seed masses had random and clustered patterns, respectively. In both the dry and wet years, species with lower maximum heights had clustered patterns, whereas taller species exhibited random patterns. In addition, species with heavier seeds and greater maximum heights had the largest cluster sizes.
Our results confirm that the spatial patterns of seedlings and adult plants are significantly determined by the functional strategy of each species.
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Mammalian herbivores play a pivotal role in Earth System processes by affecting biogeochemical cycles and ecosystem functioning, potentially leading to significant repercussions on atmosphere\uffe2\uff80\uff93biosphere feedbacks. Global dynamic models of mammalian populations can improve our understanding of their ecological role at large scales and the consequences of their extinctions. However, such models are still lacking and mammals are poorly integrated in Earth System Science.
We developed a mechanistic global model of terrestrial herbivore populations simulated with 37 functional groups defined through the analysis of eco\uffe2\uff80\uff90physiological traits across all extant herbivores (2599 species). We coupled this model with a global vegetation model to predict herbivores' maximum potential biomass in pre\uffe2\uff80\uff90industrial and at present\uffe2\uff80\uff90day and to study the environmental drivers explaining the distribution of herbivore biomass. Present\uffe2\uff80\uff90day biomass was estimated by accounting for anthropogenic activity causing habitat and range losses.
We show that natural ecosystems could have sustained a potential wild herbivore wet biomass of 330 Mt (95% CI: 245\uffe2\uff80\uff93417), comprised of 193 Mt (95% CI: 177\uffe2\uff80\uff93208) by large species (body mass >1\uffe2\uff80\uff9310\uffe2\uff80\uff89kg, depending on functional group) and 138 Mt (95% CI: 68\uffe2\uff80\uff93209) by small species. We estimate that the remaining present\uffe2\uff80\uff90day large herbivores biomass is 82 Mt (95% CI: 32\uffe2\uff80\uff93133), reduced by 57% due to anthropogenic activity; consequently, small herbivores currently dominate global herbivore biomass with 98 Mt (95% CI: 91\uffe2\uff80\uff93106, \uffe2\uff88\uff9229%). Losses vary greatly across climatic zones and functional groups, suggesting that size is not the only discriminant feature of biomass decline.
Actual evapotranspiration is the most important driver of total, large and small herbivore biomass and explains 64%, 59% and 49% of its variation, respectively. Distribution of modelled and observed large herbivores' biomass suggested a high dependency on energy and water with more biomass in hot and wet areas. These results challenge the notion that large herbivore biomass peaks primarily in ecosystems with intermediate precipitation levels such as savannas.
Outside Africa and the Tropics, pre\uffe2\uff80\uff90industrial biomass hotspots occur in areas today dominated by humans; this could undermine the recovery of larger species biomass in certain areas. Our herbivore biomass estimates provide a quantitative benchmark for setting conservation and rewilding goals at large spatial scales. The herbivore model and functional classification create new opportunities to integrate mammals into Earth System Science and models.
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Climate models forecast changes in the amount and distribution of rain, which may affect ecosystems worldwide, especially in drylands where water is already the limiting factor for plant life. Annual plant communities are common in drylands where they can complete their entire life cycle during the rainy period while avoiding the dry season. Moreover, seed dormancy allows them to disperse over time by remaining in the seed bank for long periods. However, the extent to which these communities will be able to tolerate increasing drought is uncertain.
We performed a 5\uffe2\uff80\uff90year rainfall reduction treatment under field conditions and determined its effects on annual plant communities in a Mediterranean gypsum ecosystem. We assessed the taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity of these communities each year for 5\uffe2\uff80\uff89years.
The taxonomic and functional diversity decreased under the rainfall reduction treatment, whereas the phylogenetic diversity increased. Moreover, the relative importance of species with drought\uffe2\uff80\uff90resistant functional designs increased in the community assemblages. However, after a rainy season with above average rainfall, all of the diversity values recovered completely even under the rainfall reduction treatment.
Our results provide important insights into the responses of these plant communities under a climate change scenario, where they indicate high losses of diversity during drought events but rapid recovery in milder years.
Synthesis. Our findings highlight the great resilience of annual plant communities in drylands, which may allow them to tolerate increased drought under the present climate change scenario.
Forestry is a major source of revenue for the Lao People\uffe2\uff80\uff99s Democratic Republic. The Government\uffe2\uff80\uff99s view is that shifting cultivation in the highlands is the primary cause of deforestation and erosion; this has led it to establish a policy of eliminating shifting cultivation by the resettlement of highland people in or near the lowlands. Here, it is assumed, the highlanders will be able to lead a more sedentary existence, cultivate wet rice, and benefit from various forms of development assistance. In the district of Muang Sing in northern Laos this policy has been partly responsible for the movement of large numbers of Akha people downhill to settle on the lower slopes of the highlands, at the periphery of the lowlands. This movement has been further encouraged by the low productivity of the Akha swidden economy. This article argues that Akha expectations of a more secure livelihood have not been fulfilled due to the ravages of disease, high rates of opium addiction, and the lack of government assistance. Instead, the Akha of the lower slopes have become an impoverished labour force, exploited for the benefit of the politically and economically dominant Tai lowlanders.", "keywords": ["2. Zero hunger", "0502 economics and business", "05 social sciences", "0507 social and economic geography", "1. No poverty", "15. Life on land"], "contacts": [{"organization": "Paul T. Cohen", "roles": ["creator"]}]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-7660.00151"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Development%20and%20Change", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1111/1467-7660.00151", "name": "item", "description": "10.1111/1467-7660.00151", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1111/1467-7660.00151"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2000-01-01T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1111/1365-2435.12475", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-04T16:18:52Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2015-05-12", "title": "Nitrogen Saturation In Humid Tropical Forests After 6years Of Nitrogen And Phosphorus Addition: Hypothesis Testing", "description": "Summary
Nitrogen (N) saturation hypothesis suggests that when an ecosystem reaches N\uffe2\uff80\uff90saturation, continued N input will cause increased N leaching, nitrous oxide (N2O) emission, and N mineralization and nitrification rates. It also suggests that a different element will become the main limiting factor when N saturation has been reached. Although this hypothesis has been tested in temperate forests, whether they can be directly applied to N\uffe2\uff80\uff90saturated tropical forests remain poorly addressed.
To test this hypothesis, soil inorganic N, soil N mineralization and nitrification rate, soil N2O emission rate and nitrate () leaching rate were measured in an N\uffe2\uff80\uff90saturated old\uffe2\uff80\uff90growth tropical forest in southern China, after 6\uffc2\uffa0years of N and P addition. We hypothesized that N addition would stimulate further N saturation, but P addition might alleviate N saturation.
As expected, our results showed that six continuous years of experimental N addition did cause further N saturation, which was indicated by significant increases in soil inorganic N concentration, N2O emission and nitrate () leaching. However, in contrast to our expectations, N addition significantly decreased in\uffc2\uffa0situ rates of net N mineralization and nitrification, which could be related to associated changes in enzyme activity and microbial community composition. On the other hand, P addition mitigated N saturation, as expected. Soil inorganic N concentration, N2O emission and leaching decreased significantly after P addition, but the net rates of N mineralization and nitrification were significantly increased.
Our results provide a new understanding of the N saturation hypothesis, suggesting that the effects of long\uffe2\uff80\uff90term N deposition on net N mineralization and nitrification rates in N\uffe2\uff80\uff90saturated tropical forests can be negative and that P addition can alleviate N saturation in such tropical systems.
", "keywords": ["China", "Nitrogen mineralization and nitrification", "Tropical forest", "Nitrogen saturation", "13. Climate action", "Phosphorus addition", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "N 2 O emission", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "15. Life on land", "Nitrogen deposition"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.12475"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Functional%20Ecology", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1111/1365-2435.12475", "name": "item", "description": "10.1111/1365-2435.12475", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1111/1365-2435.12475"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2015-06-06T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1111/1365-2435.12924", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-04T16:18:52Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2017-06-20", "title": "Microbial richness and composition independently drive soil multifunctionality", "description": "Abstract
Soil microbes provide multiple ecosystem functions such as nutrient cycling, decomposition and climate regulation. However, we lack a quantitative understanding of the relative importance of microbial richness and composition in controlling multifunctionality. This knowledge gap limits our capacity to understand the influence of biotic attributes in the provision of services and functions on which humans depend.
We used two independent approaches (i.e. experimental and observational), and applied statistical modelling to identify the role and relative importance of bacterial richness and composition in driving multifunctionality (here defined as seven measures of respiration and enzyme activities). In the observational study, we measured soil microbial communities and functions in both tree\uffe2\uff80\uff90 and bare soil\uffe2\uff80\uff90dominated microsites at 22 locations across a 1,200\uffc2\uffa0km transect in southeastern Australia. In the experimental study we used soils from two of those locations and developed gradients of bacterial diversity and composition through inoculation of sterilized soils.
Microbial richness and the relative abundance of Gammaproteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Bacteroidetes were positively related to multifunctionality in both the observational and experimental approaches; however, only Bacteroidetes was consistently selected as a key predictor of multifunctionality across all experimental approaches and statistical models used here. Moreover, our results, from two different approaches, provide evidence that microbial richness and composition are both important, yet independent, drivers of multiple ecosystem functions.
Overall, our findings advance our understanding of the mechanisms underpinning relationships between microbial diversity and ecosystem functionality in terrestrial ecosystems, and further suggest that information on microbial richness and composition needs to be considered when formulating sustainable management and conservation policies, and when predicting the effects of global change on ecosystem functions.
A plain language summary is available for this article.
Biological soil crusts (BSC) are complex biotic aggregates comprised of lichens, cyanobacteria, algae and other micro\uffe2\uff80\uff90organism that are known to differently affect plant development along life cycle by selecting plant functional traits based on species\uffe2\uff80\uff90specific effects. In addition, functional differences between interacting species should modulate their response ability to other environmental factors. Thus, it should be expected that the effects of the BSC on plants will be significantly determined by the own functional diversity in the community.
To understand the multiple effects of BSC and the extent to which the functional diversity of interacting plant species can modulate their effects on the development of coexisting species, we applied an experimental approach by manipulating the initial functional diversity of the entire annual plant community and BSC conditions in a common garden trial. We crossed three sorts of assemblages built on the basis of plant stature (combinations of only large, or only small, or diverse sized plant species in pots) with three lichen\uffe2\uff80\uff90dominated BSC disturbance scenarios (intact, or tiny mechanically disaggregated, or absent portions of BSC).
BSC strongly affected the establishment and development of gypsophilous annual plants in a complex, multifaceted manner, which shifted throughout the plant life cycle. We demonstrated that lichen\uffe2\uff80\uff90dominated BSC could act as a major physical barrier to the establishment of annual plants at a heterogeneous fine spatial scale. Such a restrictive effect was particularly marked in the presence of intact BSC. However, after annual plants overcame the restrictions imposed by BSC, the same biotic layer facilitated plant growth and fitness, regardless of its physical integrity, resulting in larger plants producing more fruits.
Importantly, our results suggest that the functional diversity structure of the community may also drive growth and fitness of coexisting species by activating alternative coexistence mechanisms such as niche partitioning or competition symmetry. This study highlights the importance of plant neighbourhood features for the performance of interacting species, and confirms a novel, experimental way to explore the effects of community diversity on plants for the interpretation of assembly mechanisms.
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Biotic interactions are highly affected by species traits and micro\uffe2\uff80\uff90environmental variability. Research on facilitation has primarily focused on how nurse species alleviate abiotic stress for beneficiary species, while the impact of the micro\uffe2\uff80\uff90environmental variability generated by nurse plants in shaping facilitation outcomes is poorly understood. This study has two objectives: (i) To evaluate which traits define beneficiary species and (ii) to evaluate whether nurse and non\uffe2\uff80\uff90nurse species differ in their ability to reduce abiotic stress and its variability under their canopy.
We sampled recruits in two arid and stressful environments to assess (i) which species accumulate more juveniles beneath their canopy controlling for their coverage (nurse vs. non\uffe2\uff80\uff90nurse species) and (ii) which species benefited from facilitation by determining whether they tend to recruit more beneath other species or on the bare ground (beneficiary/non\uffe2\uff80\uff90beneficiary). First, we compared how nurse and non\uffe2\uff80\uff90nurse species modify the physical and chemical microenvironments underneath their canopy, both in terms of magnitude and variation. Second, we compared root growth, water retention and nutrient accumulation in juvenile plants of beneficiary and non\uffe2\uff80\uff90beneficiary species.
We found that facilitation is enhanced by species that provide a more homogeneous microenvironment rather than an intense reduction of microenvironmental stress under their canopy. In addition, the juveniles of beneficiary species invest more in root development, accumulate Ca and S in their shoot tissues, and show a higher water content than non\uffe2\uff80\uff90beneficiary species.
Our findings indicate that the homogeneity of microenvironments plays a crucial role in facilitative interactions, and the juveniles of beneficiary species show a less conservative strategy, investing more in resource acquisition than juveniles of non\uffe2\uff80\uff90beneficiary species.
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Maintenance of early successional and open habitats often requires active removal of encroaching vegetation. In many cases, fire or other historically applied methods can no longer maintain or create open or early\uffe2\uff80\uff90successional habitat. In these situations, managers must employ mechanical or chemical treatments to control vegetation and improve habitat quality for wildlife that depend on open habitats.
We conducted a large\uffe2\uff80\uff90scale study of tree removal from 2005 to 2011 on 14 grassland sites in central North America. Beginning in the autumn of 2005, shrubs, scattered trees, shelterbelts and woodlots were removed from six of fourteen study sites with cutting and burning treatments. Trees and shrubs accounted for 7\uffe2\uff80\uff9321% of pre\uffe2\uff80\uff90treatment ground cover. We conducted vegetation and bird surveys on each site for one\uffc2\uffa0year before and six\uffc2\uffa0years after initiating tree removal treatments.
Treatments effectively removed larger woody vegetation (>6\uffc2\uffa0m in height), but effects of shrub removal were less consistent due to rapid regrowth. Tree removal sites also experienced reductions in grassy litter as a result of prescribed fires that were used to discourage shrub and tree regrowth.
On untreated sites, abundance of all grassland birds declined throughout the study, on average declining by 62%. On tree removal sites, we estimated that grassland bird abundance dropped from 2\uffc2\uffb704 (birds per count) before treatment to a low of 0\uffc2\uffb790 in the second year after initiating treatments, but recovered in the final three\uffc2\uffa0years of study with a weak, but significant positive response six\uffc2\uffa0years after initiating treatment, with an estimated 1\uffc2\uffb742 birds per count. Waterfowl and wetland birds increased following tree removal, whereas woodland birds, particularly those that nest in cavities, declined on treated sites.
Synthesis and applications. Tree removal did appear to improve habitat suitability for grassland birds, but a positive response was weak and delayed, and treatments caused short\uffe2\uff80\uff90term habitat disturbances that significantly reduced abundance of target species. When planning large\uffe2\uff80\uff90scale tree removal, it may be beneficial to allow undisturbed habitat in the surrounding landscape to ameliorate potential short\uffe2\uff80\uff90term displacement of wildlife in early phases of treatment. In addition, managers should expect site recovery to require repeated treatments over multiple years.
", "keywords": ["0106 biological sciences", "2. Zero hunger", "15. Life on land", "01 natural sciences"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.12554"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Journal%20of%20Applied%20Ecology", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1111/1365-2664.12554", "name": "item", "description": "10.1111/1365-2664.12554", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1111/1365-2664.12554"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2015-11-22T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1111/1365-2664.13113", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-04T16:18:52Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2018-01-30", "title": "Crop traits drive soil carbon sequestration under organic farming", "description": "Abstract
Organic farming (OF) enhances top soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks in croplands compared with conventional farming (CF), which can contribute to sequester C. As farming system differences in the amount of C inputs to soil (e.g. fertilization and crop residues) are not enough to explain such increase, shifts in crop residue traits important for soil C losses such as litter decomposition may also play a role.
To assess whether crop residue (leaf and root) traits determined SOC sequestration responses to OF, we coupled a global meta\uffe2\uff80\uff90analysis with field measurements across a European\uffe2\uff80\uff90wide network of sites. In the meta\uffe2\uff80\uff90analysis, we related crop species averages of leaf N, leaf\uffe2\uff80\uff90dry matter content, fine\uffe2\uff80\uff90root C and N, with SOC stocks and sequestration responses in OF vs. CF. Across six European sites, we measured the management\uffe2\uff80\uff90induced changes in SOC stocks and leaf litter traits after long\uffe2\uff80\uff90term ecological intensive (e.g. OF) vs. CF comparisons.
Our global meta\uffe2\uff80\uff90analysis showed that the positive OF\uffe2\uff80\uff90effects on soil respiration, SOC stocks, and SOC sequestration rates were significant even in organic farms with low manure application rates. Although fertilization intensity was the main driver of OF\uffe2\uff80\uff90effects on SOC, leaf and root N concentrations also played a significant role. Across the six European sites, changes towards higher leaf litter N in CF also promoted lower SOC stocks.
Our results highlight that crop species displaying traits indicative of resource\uffe2\uff80\uff90acquisitive strategies (e.g. high leaf and root N) increase the difference in SOC between OF and CF. Indeed, changes towards higher crop residue decomposability was related with decreased SOC stocks under CF across European sites.
Synthesis and applications. Our study emphasizes that, with management, changes in crop residue traits contribute to the positive effects of organic farming (OF) on soil carbon sequestration. These results provide a clear message to land managers: the choice of crop species, and more importantly their functional traits (e.g. leave and root nitrogen), should be considered in addition to management practices and climate, when evaluating the potential of OF for climate change mitigation.
", "keywords": ["SOC sequestration", "0301 basic medicine", "Organic farming", "Resource economics traits", "Soil Science", "Ecological intensification", "[SDV.SA.SDS]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Agricultural sciences/Soil study", "Markvetenskap", "630", "Soil quality", "climate change mitigation", "Climate change mitigation", "03 medical and health sciences", "ecological intensification", "organic farming", "[SDE.ES] Environmental Sciences/Environment and Society", "Crop residue", "soil carbon stocks", "'Organics' in general", "[SDE.ES]Environmental Sciences/Environment and Society", "[SDV.SA.SDS] Life Sciences [q-bio]/Agricultural sciences/Soil study", "580", "2. Zero hunger", "leaf nitrogen", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "15. Life on land", "resource economics traits", "meta-analysis", "[SDE.BE] Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology", "Meta-analysis", "crop residue", "13. Climate action", "crop traits", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "[SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology", "Leaf nitrogen", "Soil carbon stocks"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.13113"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Journal%20of%20Applied%20Ecology", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1111/1365-2664.13113", "name": "item", "description": "10.1111/1365-2664.13113", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1111/1365-2664.13113"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2018-02-15T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1111/1365-2656.12746", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-04T16:18:52Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2017-08-18", "title": "Invasive earthworms erode soil biodiversity: A meta-analysis", "description": "Abstract
Biological invasions pose a serious threat to biodiversity and ecosystem functioning across ecosystems. Invasions by ecosystem engineers, in particular, have been shown to have dramatic effects in recipient ecosystems. For instance, invasion by earthworms, a below\uffe2\uff80\uff90ground invertebrate ecosystem engineer, in previously earthworm\uffe2\uff80\uff90free ecosystems alters the physico\uffe2\uff80\uff90chemical characteristics of the soil. Studies have shown that such alterations in the soil can have far\uffe2\uff80\uff90reaching impacts on soil organisms, which form a major portion of terrestrial biodiversity.
Here, we present the first quantitative synthesis of earthworm invasion effects on soil micro\uffe2\uff80\uff90organisms and soil invertebrates based on 430 observations from 30 independent studies.
Our meta\uffe2\uff80\uff90analysis shows a significant decline of the diversity and density of soil invertebrates in response to earthworm invasion with anecic and endogeic earthworms causing the strongest effects. Earthworm invasion effects on soil micro\uffe2\uff80\uff90organisms were context\uffe2\uff80\uff90dependent, such as depending on functional group richness of invasive earthworms and soil depth. Microbial biomass and diversity increased in mineral soil layers, with a weak negative effect in organic soil layers, indicating that the mixing of soil layers by earthworms (bioturbation) may homogenize microbial communities across soil layers.
Our meta\uffe2\uff80\uff90analysis provides a compelling evidence for negative effects of a common invasive below\uffe2\uff80\uff90ground ecosystem engineer on below\uffe2\uff80\uff90ground biodiversity of recipient ecosystems, which could potentially alter the ecosystem functions and services linked to soil biota.
", "keywords": ["Biodiversity change", "0106 biological sciences", "2. Zero hunger", "Soil invertebrates", "Population Dynamics", "Soil micro-organisms", "Biodiversity", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "15. Life on land", "Invertebrates", "01 natural sciences", "Chemistry", "Soil", "Ecosystem engineer", "13. Climate action", "Animals", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "Oligochaeta", "Introduced Species", "Biology", "Biological invasion", "Ecosystem", "Soil Microbiology"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1365-2656.12746"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.12746"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Journal%20of%20Animal%20Ecology", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1111/1365-2656.12746", "name": "item", "description": "10.1111/1365-2656.12746", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1111/1365-2656.12746"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2017-09-28T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1111/1365-2664.12630", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-04T16:18:52Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2016-02-22", "title": "Thresholds and gradients in a semi\u2010arid grassland: long\u2010term grazing treatments induce slow, continuous and reversible vegetation change", "description": "Summary
Temporal changes in semi\uffe2\uff80\uff90arid ecosystems can include transitions between alternative stable states, involving thresholds and multiple domains of attraction, but can also include relatively continuous, symmetric and reversible shifts within a single stable state. Conceptual state\uffe2\uff80\uff90and\uffe2\uff80\uff90transition models (STMs) describe both types of ecosystem dynamics by including state transitions (plant community changes difficult\uffe2\uff80\uff90to\uffe2\uff80\uff90reverse without substantial input or effort) and phase shifts (easily reversible community changes) as consequences of management practices and environmental variability. Grazing management is purported to be the primary driver of state transitions in current STMs for North American grasslands, but there is limited empirical evidence from these grasslands showing that grazing can cause difficult\uffe2\uff80\uff90to\uffe2\uff80\uff90reverse transitions between alternate stable states.
In a northern mixed\uffe2\uff80\uff90grass prairie in Wyoming, USA, we examined plant community responses to (i) long\uffe2\uff80\uff90term (33\uffe2\uff80\uff90year) grazing intensity treatments (none, light, moderate and heavy stocking rates) and (ii) 8\uffc2\uffa0years of light or no grazing in pastures that were grazed heavily for the previous 25\uffc2\uffa0years.
Long\uffe2\uff80\uff90term grazing treatments were associated with distinct, but not stable, plant communities. From year 22 to 33, heavier stocking rates decreased cover of dominant C3 grasses and increased cover of the dominant C4 grass Bouteloua gracilis.
Reversing stocking rates from heavy to light or no grazing resulted in reversal of changes induced by prior heavy stocking for dominant C3 grasses, but not for B.\uffc2\uffa0gracilis. For both groups, rates of change following grazing treatment reversals were consistent with rates of change during the initial years of the experiment (1982\uffe2\uff80\uff931990).
Synthesis and applications. In a semi\uffe2\uff80\uff90arid rangeland with a long evolutionary history of grazing, different long\uffe2\uff80\uff90term grazing intensity treatments caused slow, continuous and directional changes with important management implications, but did not appear to induce alternative stable states. For this and similar ecosystems, quantifying the time\uffe2\uff80\uff90scales and compositional gradients associated with key phase shifts may be more important than identifying thresholds between alternative stable states.
Intensive agriculture is dominated by monocultures of high\uffe2\uff80\uff90yielding plants that receive large applications of nitrogen (N) fertilizers to boost plant productivity. However, these systems have low N use efficiency (NUE) as fertilized plants generally take up less than half of the N applied. A large fraction of the remainder N is susceptible to be lost from the agroecosystem generating a cascade of environmental and socio\uffe2\uff80\uff90economic problems. Climate change and projected global increases in fertilizer use pose further risks to N losses and yield stability.
We review and translate concepts from ecology in natural systems to demonstrate that NUE in intensive agroecosystems can be strongly increased by fine\uffe2\uff80\uff90tuning the traits of the plant communities to the levels of N fertilization intensity.
We present key plant traits of importance for N\uffe2\uff80\uff90cycling (architectural, morphological and physiological traits, as well as symbiotic associations and exudation patterns); discuss ecological (with soil fauna and N\uffe2\uff80\uff90cycling microbial communities) and agronomic interactions of this approach; propose interdisciplinary methodologies for future research ranging from pot to global scales; and highlight possible solutions leading to an optimal balance between N fertilizer use and productivity.
Synthesis and applications. By showing the strong links between plant traits and nitrogen (N) cycling, our work opens possibilities to test ecologically informed hypotheses across gradients of soil fertility and N fertilizer management intensity, setting a research agenda for the coming years. Accordingly, the choice of plant species based on their functional traits will play a central role for the development of modern and productive agroecosystems that retain and use N more efficiently.
Microplastics in soils have become an important threat for terrestrial systems as they may potentially alter the geochemical/biophysical soil environment and can interact with drought. As microplastics may affect soil water content, this could exacerbate the well\uffe2\uff80\uff90known negative effects of drought on ecosystem functionality. Thus, functions including litter decomposition, soil aggregation or those related with nutrient cycling can be altered. Despite this potential interaction, we know relatively little about how microplastics, under different soil water conditions, affect ecosystem functions and multifunctionality.
To address this gap, we performed an experiment using grassland plant communities growing in microcosms. Microplastic fibres (absent, present) and soil water conditions (well\uffe2\uff80\uff90watered, drought) were applied in a fully factorial design. At harvest, we measured soil ecosystem functions related to nutrient cycling (\uffce\uffb2\uffe2\uff80\uff90glucosaminidase, \uffce\uffb2\uffe2\uff80\uff90D\uffe2\uff80\uff90cellobiosidase, phosphatase, \uffce\uffb2\uffe2\uff80\uff90glucosidase enzymes), respiration, nutrient retention, pH, litter decomposition and soil aggregation (water stable aggregates). As terrestrial systems provide these functions simultaneously, we also assessed ecosystem multifunctionality, an index that encompasses the array of ecosystem functions measured here.
We found that the interaction between microplastic fibres and drought affected ecosystem functions and multifunctionality. Drought had negatively affected nutrient cycling by decreasing enzymatic activities by up to ~39%, while microplastics increased soil aggregation by ~18%, soil pH by ~4% and nutrient retention by up to ~70% by diminishing nutrient leaching. Microplastic fibres also impacted soil enzymes, respiration and ecosystem multifunctionality, but importantly, the direction of these effects depended on soil water status. That is, under well\uffe2\uff80\uff90watered conditions, these functions decreased with microplastic fibres by up to ~34% while under drought they had similar values irrespective of the microplastic presence, or tended to increase with microplastics. Litter decomposition had a contrary pattern increasing with microplastics by ~6% under well\uffe2\uff80\uff90watered conditions while decreasing to a similar percentage under drought.
Synthesis and applications. Single ecosystem functions can be positively or negatively affected by microplastics fibres depending on soil water status. However, our results suggest that microplastic fibres may cause negative effects on ecosystem soil multifunctionality of a similar magnitude as drought. Thus, strategies to counteract this new global change factor are necessary.
", "keywords": ["2. Zero hunger", "570", "ddc:630", "nutrient cycling", "litter decomposition", "500 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik::570 Biowissenschaften; Biologie::570 Biowissenschaften; Biologie", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "15. Life on land", "soil respiration", "01 natural sciences", "6. Clean water", "soil aggregation", "soil pH", "grasslands ecosystem", "13. Climate action", "nutrient leaching", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "ddc:570", "Institut f\u00fcr Biochemie und Biologie", "enzymatic activities", "0105 earth and related environmental sciences"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1365-2664.13839"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.13839"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Journal%20of%20Applied%20Ecology", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1111/1365-2664.13839", "name": "item", "description": "10.1111/1365-2664.13839", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1111/1365-2664.13839"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2021-02-10T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1111/1365-2664.14437", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-04T16:18:52Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2023-06-08", "title": "Pesticide effects on soil fauna communities\u2014A meta\u2010analysis", "description": "Abstract
Soil invertebrate communities represent a significant fraction of global biodiversity and play crucial roles in ecosystems. A number of human activities threaten soil communities, in particular intensive agricultural practices such as pesticide use. However, there is currently no quantitative synthesis of the impacts of pesticides on soil fauna communities.
Here, using a meta\uffe2\uff80\uff90analysis of 54 studies and 294 observations, we quantify pesticide effects on the abundance, biomass, richness and diversity of natural soil fauna communities across a wide range of environmental contexts. We also identify scenarios with the most detrimental effects on soil fauna communities by analysing the effects of different pesticides (herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, broad\uffe2\uff80\uff90spectrum substances and multiple substances), different application rates and temporal extents (short\uffe2\uff80\uff90 or long\uffe2\uff80\uff90term), as well as the response of different functional groups of soil animals (body size categories, presence of exoskeleton).
Pesticides overall decreased the abundance and diversity of soil fauna communities across studies (Grand mean effect size (Hedge's g)\uffe2\uff80\uff89=\uffe2\uff80\uff89\uffe2\uff88\uff920.30\uffe2\uff80\uff89+/\uffe2\uff88\uff92\uffe2\uff80\uff890.16) and had stronger effects on soil fauna diversity than abundance. The most detrimental scenarios involved multiple substances, broad\uffe2\uff80\uff90spectrum substances and insecticides, which significantly decreased soil fauna diversity even at recommended rates. We found no evidence that pesticide effects dampen over time, as short\uffe2\uff80\uff90term and long\uffe2\uff80\uff90term studies exhibited similar mean effect sizes.
Policy implications: Our study highlights that pesticide use has significant detrimental non\uffe2\uff80\uff90target effects on soil biodiversity, eroding a substantial part of global biodiversity and threatening ecosystem health. This provides crucial evidence supporting recent policies, such as the European Green Deal, that aim to reduce pesticide use in agriculture to conserve biodiversity. The detrimental effects of multiple substances revealed here are particularly concerning because realistic pesticide use often combines several substances targeting different pests and diseases over the crop season. We suggest that future guidelines for pesticide registration, restrictions and banning should rely on data able to fully capture the long\uffe2\uff80\uff90term consequences of multiple substances for multiple non\uffe2\uff80\uff90target species in realistic conditions.
Plant species turnover in central Panamanian forests has been principally attributed to the effects of dispersal limitation and a strong Caribbean to Pacific gradient in rainfall seasonality. Despite marked geological heterogeneity, the role of soil variation has not been rigorously examined.
We modelled the compositional turnover of trees and ferns in the Panama Canal watershed as a function of soil chemistry, climate and geographical separation, using generalized dissimilarity models (GDMs).
Predictability in both plant groups was strong, with 74% of turnover explained in trees and 49% in ferns. Major trends in the two plant groups were strikingly similar. The independent effects of soils, and of climate for trees, were sizeable, but those of geographical distance were minor. In both plant groups, distance and climatic effects on species turnover covaried strongly.
Including floristic dissimilarity of the other taxon as a predictor increased explained deviance to 81% in trees and 59% in ferns. Controlling for differences in plant density among plots reduced deviance explained by climate and distance, while soil effects remained strong. Limiting the analyses to soils of volcanic origin increased deviance explained by climate, soils and distance, but their effects covaried strongly. Independent soil effects on tree turnover were reduced, but their effects on fern turnover remained pronounced.
Dry season length was the most important climatic predictor for both taxa, and P and pH were the most important soil predictors. Particularly, rapid species turnover was associated with the driest end of the seasonality gradient, linked to declining individual densities and species richness, and with the low end of the phosphorus gradient.
Synthesis. While changes in rainfall and seasonality undoubtedly limit plant distributions in this region, soil effects are at least as important, and interactions between the two are sizeable. This is likely to hold elsewhere in the Caribbean region, where mosaics of marine and volcanic soils combined with pronounced rainfall gradients are common. Strong congruence between our focal taxa suggests that our results can be extrapolated to other plant groups, particularly as trees and ferns are distantly related and represent different life\uffe2\uff80\uff90forms.
", "keywords": ["0106 biological sciences", "biotic interactions", " determinants of plant community diversity and structure", " edaphic variation", " environmental control", " matrix regression", " precipitation", " Pteridophyta", " seed and spore dispersal", " tropical forests", " turnover rates", "15. Life on land", "01 natural sciences"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.12053"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Journal%20of%20Ecology", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1111/1365-2745.12053", "name": "item", "description": "10.1111/1365-2745.12053", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1111/1365-2745.12053"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2013-01-14T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1111/1365-2745.12213", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-04T16:18:52Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2013-12-21", "title": "Effects Of Experimental Warming On Nitrogen Concentration And Biomass Of Forage Plants For An Arctic Herbivore", "description": "Summary
In many arctic herbivores, the growth of young depends upon a synchrony between hatching date and seasonal change in plant nutritive quality. If plants respond more quickly than herbivores to climate warming, this may cause a mismatch between the availability of high\uffe2\uff80\uff90quality food and the hatching of young. This study examines the impact of experimental warming on the main food plants of an arctic herbivore, the greater snow goose (Chen caerulescens atlanticaL.) breeding on Bylot Island, Nunavut, Canada.
During summers 2007\uffe2\uff80\uff932009, we increased the temperature using small glasshouses (open\uffe2\uff80\uff90top chambers, OTC) in two habitats, wetlands and mesic tundra. Every 10\uffc2\uffa0days, we measured above\uffe2\uff80\uff90ground plant biomass and a proxy of nutritive quality, nitrogen concentration, of graminoid plants in warmed and control plots from snowmelt in June until late July.
Open\uffe2\uff80\uff90top chambers increased mean maximum temperature by up to 2.0\uffc2\uffa0\uffc2\uffb0C in wetlands and 4.6\uffc2\uffa0\uffc2\uffb0C in mesic tundra. Annual warming significantly increased biomass of graminoids by up to 29% in wetlands and 20% in mesic tundra. There was no difference in nitrogen concentration of the four plant species sampled (Dupontia fisheri, Eriophorum scheuchzeri, Arctagrostis latifolia and Luzula spp.) early in the season, but the seasonal decline in nitrogen occurred more rapidly in warmed than in control plots (10% to 14% less nitrogen in warmed plots in July). This effect was consistent across the 3\uffc2\uffa0years of the experiment and independent of annual variation in plant phenology. There was either a weak positive effect or no effect of the warming treatment on the nitrogen biomass of plants depending on species or period of the season.
Synthesis. Our results show that warming speeds up plant phenology and the seasonal decline in nutritive quality for arctic herbivores. Because young herbivores like geese are highly sensitive to the nitrogen concentration of their food, a warmer climate will likely reduce their growth. Climate warming may therefore have a negative impact on the population dynamic of arctic herbivores by reducing the quality of their summer forage.
", "keywords": ["0106 biological sciences", "2. Zero hunger", "13. Climate action", "15. Life on land", "01 natural sciences", "6. Clean water"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.12213"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Journal%20of%20Ecology", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1111/1365-2745.12213", "name": "item", "description": "10.1111/1365-2745.12213", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1111/1365-2745.12213"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2014-01-17T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1111/1365-2745.14136", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-04T16:18:53Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2023-06-08", "title": "Drought intensity alters productivity, carbon allocation and plant nitrogen uptake in fast versus slow grassland communities", "description": "Abstract
Grasslands face more frequent and extreme droughts; yet, their responses to increasing drought intensity are poorly understood. Increasing drought intensity likely triggers abrupt shifts (thresholds) in grassland ecosystem functioning which can implicate recovery trajectories.
Here, we determined how drought intensity affects plant productivity, and plant\uffe2\uff80\uff93soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycling. We exposed model grassland plant communities with contrasting resource acquisition strategies (a fast\uffe2\uff80\uff90 vs a slow\uffe2\uff80\uff90strategy plant community), to a gradient of drought intensity. The drought gradient ranged from well\uffe2\uff80\uff90watered to severely water\uffe2\uff80\uff90limited conditions. We identified thresholds of plant community productivity (above\uffe2\uff80\uff90ground biomass) at peak drought and 2\uffe2\uff80\uff89months after re\uffe2\uff80\uff90wetting, and measured net ecosystem exchange and ecosystem respiration of C\uffc2\uffa0throughout the drought and recovery phases. At peak drought and 1\uffe2\uff80\uff89week after re\uffe2\uff80\uff90wetting, we traced recently acquired C from plants to the soil and into microbial biomass and fatty acids using 13C pulse labelling, and measured plant and soil N.
At peak drought, slow\uffe2\uff80\uff90strategy plant communities were more drought resistant than fast\uffe2\uff80\uff90strategy communities, as the threshold in plant productivity occurred at a higher drought intensity for the slow\uffe2\uff80\uff90 than the fast\uffe2\uff80\uff90strategy community. Shortly after re\uffe2\uff80\uff90wetting, microbial uptake of recent plant\uffe2\uff80\uff90assimilated C increased with increasing past drought intensity, coinciding with an increase in soil N availability and leaf N. Threshold responses to drought intensity at peak drought translated into non\uffe2\uff80\uff90linear recovery responses, with greater compensatory growth in the fast\uffe2\uff80\uff90strategy community. At peak drought, increasing drought intensity reduced C uptake and increased relative C partitioning to leaves and microbial biomass. Upon re\uffe2\uff80\uff90wetting, plant community strategy mediated drought intensity effects on plant and soil C and N dynamics and plant recovery trajectories. The fast\uffe2\uff80\uff90strategy community recovered quickly, with higher leaf N than the slow community, while the slow community increased C allocation to microbial biomass.
Synthesis. Our findings highlight that C and N dynamics in the plant\uffe2\uff80\uff93soil system display non\uffe2\uff80\uff90linear responses to increasing drought intensity both during and after drought, which has implications for plant community recovery trajectories.
The increasing frequency of extreme weather events, such as floods, requires management strategies that promote resilience of grassland productivity. Mixtures of plant species may better resist and recover from flooding than monocultures, as they could combine species with stress\uffe2\uff80\uff90coping and resource acquisition traits. This has not yet been tested in intensively managed grasslands despite its relevance for enhancing agroecosystem resilience.
Using intact soil cores from an 18\uffe2\uff80\uff90month\uffe2\uff80\uff90old field experiment, we tested how 11 plant communities (Festuca arundinacea, Lolium perenne, Poa trivialis and Trifolium repens in monoculture, two\uffe2\uff80\uff90 and four\uffe2\uff80\uff90species mixtures) resist and recover from repeated flooding in a 4\uffe2\uff80\uff90month greenhouse experiment.
We found that plant community composition, not whether the community was a mixture or monoculture, influenced the community's resistance to flooding, although most communities were able to resist and recover from both floods.
The plant community's position on the leaf economic spectrum in flooded conditions was related to its resistance to and recovery from flooding. Resistance to and recovery from a severe flood were related to flood\uffe2\uff80\uff90induced intraspecific trait variation, causing a shift in the community's position on the leaf resource economic spectrum. In flooded conditions, resource\uffe2\uff80\uff90conservative communities (characterized by low specific leaf area, low leaf nitrogen content and high leaf dry matter content) better resisted and recovered from flooding. The community's position on the root resource economic spectrum was less connected to the community's resistance and recovery.
Synthesis and applications. Our study shows that in flooded conditions, resource\uffe2\uff80\uff90conservative plant communities are more resilient to flooding than resource\uffe2\uff80\uff90acquisitive communities in an intensively managed grassland. This suggests that plant community position on the leaf economic spectrum, as well as species\uffe2\uff80\uff99 flood\uffe2\uff80\uff90induced intraspecific variation, should be considered when designing grasslands to withstand increasing flood frequency and severity.
Human\uffe2\uff80\uff90induced disturbance has substantially influenced the structure and function of terrestrial ecosystems globally. However, the extent to which multiple ecosystem functions (multifunctionality) recover following anthropogenic disturbance (ecosystem recovery) remains poorly understood.
We report on the first study examining the temporal dynamics in recovery of multifunctionality from 3 to 12\uffe2\uff80\uff89years after the commencement of rehabilitation following mining\uffe2\uff80\uff90induced disturbance, and relate this information to changes in biota. We examined changes in 57 biotic (plants, microbial) and functional (soil) attributes associated with biodiversity and ecosystem services at four open\uffe2\uff80\uff90cut coal mines in eastern Australia.
Increasing time since commencement of rehabilitation was associated with increases in overall multifunctionality, soil microbial abundance, plant productivity, plant structure and soil stability, but not nutrient cycling, soil carbon sequestration nor soil nutrients. However, the temporal responses of individual ecosystem properties varied widely, from strongly positive (e.g. litter cover, fine and coarse frass, seed biomass, microbial and fungal biomass) to strongly negative (groundstorey foliage cover). We also show that sites with more developed biota tended to have greater ecosystem multifunctionality. Moreover, recovery of plant litter was closely associated with recovery of most microbial components, soil integrity and soil respiration. Overall, however, rehabilitated sites still differed from reference ecosystems a decade after commencement of rehabilitation.
Synthesis and applications. The dominant role of plant and soil biota and litter cover in relation to functions associated with soil respiration, microbial function, soil integrity and C and N pools suggests that recovering biodiversity is a critically important priority in rehabilitation programs. Nonetheless, the slow recovery of most functions after a decade indicates that rehabilitation after open\uffe2\uff80\uff90cut mining is likely to protracted.
Drought can affect ecosystem functioning by altering plant\uffe2\uff80\uff93soil interactions, posing a significant threat to vulnerable ecosystems like heathlands. In heathlands, ongoing nitrogen deposition increases the dominance of fast\uffe2\uff80\uff90growing grasses over the slow\uffe2\uff80\uff90growing shrub Calluna vulgaris. These changes above\uffe2\uff80\uff90ground can influence soil dynamics and heathlands' responses to drought. Here, we assessed whether the legacy effects of drought on heathland soils depended on mowing times as a management practice commonly used to regenerate Calluna and decrease the abundance of fast\uffe2\uff80\uff90growing grasses.
Using a long\uffe2\uff80\uff90term field experiment, we investigated if soil response to drought differed under Calluna and grasses, as well as under Calluna plants of different growth stages through different mowing times. We hypothesized that drought would decrease soil C and nutrient pools underneath grasses and younger Calluna plants through its impact on soil microbial communities.
Our results show that long\uffe2\uff80\uff90term drought decreased soil C but only underneath grasses and old Calluna, while under young Calluna, soil C increased under drought when compared to control conditions. Bacterial and fungal community composition differed between drought and control and were affected by the growth stage of Calluna but not by plant growth strategies. Furthermore, drought and Calluna growth stage\uffe2\uff80\uff90induced changes in bacterial communities directly affected total soil C and indirectly by reducing microbial C, which was positively related to total soil C.
Synthesis and applications. Understanding ecosystem response to drought is crucial for maintaining biodiversity and mitigating climate change feedbacks. Heathlands are threatened by high nitrogen deposition, a lack of management and an increasing frequency of drought. Our results emphasize the importance of frequent mowing (decadal) as a management practice that promotes a younger and more Calluna\uffe2\uff80\uff90dominated plant community for reducing soil C losses under future climate change\uffe2\uff80\uff90induced drought conditions. The active management of heathlands is essential not only for keeping above\uffe2\uff80\uff90ground vegetation dynamics, but also for maintaining below\uffe2\uff80\uff90ground soil nutrient and carbon pools.
Optimal resource partitioning theory predicts that plants should increase the ratio between water absorbing and transpiring surfaces under short water supply. An increase in fine root mass and surface area relative to leaf area has frequently been found in herbaceous plants, but supporting evidence from mature trees is scarce and several results are contradictory.
In 12 mature Fagus sylvatica forests across a precipitation gradient (820\uffe2\uff80\uff93540\uffc2\uffa0mm\uffc2\uffa0yr\uffe2\uff88\uff921), we tested several predictions of the theory by analysing the dependence of standing fine root biomass, fine root production and fine root morphology on mean annual precipitation (MAP), the precipitation of the study year, and stand structural and edaphic variables. The water storage capacity of the soil (WSC) was included as a covariable by comparing pairs of stands on sandy (lower WSC) and loam\uffe2\uff80\uff90richer soils (higher WSC).
Fine root biomass, total fine root surface area, fine root production and the fine root\uffc2\uffa0:\uffc2\uffa0leaf biomass production ratio markedly increased with reduced MAP and precipitation in the study year, while WSC was only a secondary factor and stand structure had no effect.
The precipitation effect on fine root biomass and production was more pronounced in stands on sandy soil with lower WSC, which had, at equal precipitation, a higher fine root biomass and productivity than stands on loam\uffe2\uff80\uff90richer soil.
The high degree of allocational plasticity in mature F. sylvatica trees contrasts with a low morphological plasticity of the fine roots. On the more extreme sandy soils, a significant decrease in mean fine root diameter and increase in specific root area with decreasing precipitation were found; a similar effect was absent on the loam\uffe2\uff80\uff90richer soils.
Synthesis. In support of optimal partitioning theory, mature Fagus sylvatica trees showed a remarkable allocational plasticity as a long\uffe2\uff80\uff90term response to significant precipitation reduction with a large increase in the size and productivity of the fine root system, while only minor adaptive modifications occurred in root morphology. More severe summer droughts in a future warmer climate may substantially alter the above\uffe2\uff80\uff90/below\uffe2\uff80\uff90ground C partitioning of this tree species with major implications for the forest C cycle.
", "keywords": ["0106 biological sciences", "2. Zero hunger", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "15. Life on land", "01 natural sciences", "6. Clean water"], "contacts": [{"organization": "Tanja Strecker, Dietrich Hertel, Hilmar M\u00fcller-Haubold, Christoph Leuschner,", "roles": ["creator"]}]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.12124"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Journal%20of%20Ecology", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1111/1365-2745.12124", "name": "item", "description": "10.1111/1365-2745.12124", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1111/1365-2745.12124"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2013-07-26T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1111/1365-2745.12593", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-04T16:18:52Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2016-04-22", "title": "Drought History Affects Grassland Plant And Microbial Carbon Turnover During And After A Subsequent Drought Event", "description": "Summary
Drought periods are projected to become more severe and more frequent in many European regions. While effects of single strong droughts on plant and microbial carbon (C) dynamics have been studied in some detail, impacts of recurrent drought events are still little understood.
We tested whether the legacy of extreme experimental drought affects responses of plant and microbial C and nitrogen (N) turnover to further drought and rewetting. In a mountain grassland, we conducted a 13C pulse\uffe2\uff80\uff90chase experiment during a naturally occurring drought and rewetting event in plots previously exposed to experimental droughts and in ambient controls (AC). After labelling, we traced 13C below\uffe2\uff80\uff90ground allocation and incorporation into soil microbes using phospholipid fatty acid biomarkers.
Drought history (DH) had no effects on the standing shoot and fine root plant biomass. However, plants with experimental DH displayed decreased shoot N concentrations and increased fine root N concentrations relative to those in AC. During the natural drought, plants with DH assimilated and allocated less 13C below\uffe2\uff80\uff90ground; moreover, fine root respiration was reduced and not fuelled by fresh C compared to plants in AC.
Regardless of DH, microbial biomass remained stable during natural drought and rewetting. Although microbial communities initially differed in their composition between soils with and without DH, they responded to the natural drought and rewetting in a similar way: gram\uffe2\uff80\uff90positive bacteria increased, while fungal and gram\uffe2\uff80\uff90negative bacteria remained stable. In soils with DH, a strongly reduced uptake of recent plant\uffe2\uff80\uff90derived 13C in microbial biomarkers was observed during the natural drought, pointing to a smaller fraction of active microbes or to a microbial community that is less dependent on plant C.
Synthesis. Drought history can induce changes in above\uffe2\uff80\uff90 vs. below\uffe2\uff80\uff90ground plant N concentrations and affect the response of plant C turnover to further droughts and rewetting by decreasing plant C uptake and below\uffe2\uff80\uff90ground allocation. DH does not affect the responses of the microbial community to further droughts and rewetting, but alters microbial functioning, particularly the turnover of recent plant\uffe2\uff80\uff90derived carbon, during and after further drought periods.
", "keywords": ["0301 basic medicine", "plant-soil (below-ground) interactions", "NITROGEN TURNOVER", "Biomass Allocation", "microbial community composition", "Negibacteria", "drought", "phospholipid fatty acid", "nitrogen", "Microbial community composition", "Plant\u2013Soil (Below\u2010ground) Interactions", "Recovery", "ROOT RESPIRATION", "Plant-soil (below-ground) interactions", "CLIMATE EXTREMES", "C pulse labelling", "Below-ground carbon allocation", "2. Zero hunger", "106022 Mikrobiologie", "0303 health sciences", "SOIL INTERACTIONS", "below-ground carbon allocation", "C-13 pulse labelling", "Grassland", "6. Clean water", "Europe", "Phospholipid", "ORGANIC-MATTER", "Mountain Region", "Posibacteria", "DIOXIDE PULSES", "Phospholipid fatty acid", "106022 Microbiology", "Root/shoot Ratio", "Belowground Biomass", "Ecosystem Resilience", "Nitrogen", "Microbial Community", "Carbon Isotope", "Soil-vegetation Interaction", "recovery", "SUMMER DROUGHT", "03 medical and health sciences", "Rewetting", "Community Composition", "plant\u2013soil (below-ground) interactions", "WATER-STRESS", "resilience", "Drought", "Resilience", "RESILIENCE", "15. Life on land", "Turnover", "Microbial Activity", "13. Climate action", "Fatty Acid", "RESPONSES"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.12593"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Journal%20of%20Ecology", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1111/1365-2745.12593", "name": "item", "description": "10.1111/1365-2745.12593", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1111/1365-2745.12593"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2016-05-24T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1111/1477-8947.12071", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-04T16:18:54Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2015-08-19", "title": "Resource Conservation Strategies For Rice-Wheat Cropping Systems On Partially Reclaimed Sodic Soils Of The Indo-Gangetic Region, And Their Effects On Soil Carbon", "description": "AbstractThe Indo\uffe2\uff80\uff90Gangetic plain is characterized by intensive agriculture, largely by resource\uffe2\uff80\uff90poor small and marginal farmers. Vast swathes of salt\uffe2\uff80\uff90affected areas in the region provide both challenges and opportunities to bolster food security and sequester carbon after reclamation. Sustainable management of reclaimed soils via resource conservation strategies, such as residue retention, is key to the prosperity of the farmer, as well as increases the efficiency of expensive initiatives to further reclaim sodic land areas, which currently lay barren. After five years of experimentation on resource conservation strategies for rice\uffe2\uff80\uff90wheat systems on partially reclaimed sodic soils of the Indo\uffe2\uff80\uff90Gangetic region, we evaluated changes in different soil carbon pools and crop yield. Out of all resource conservation techniques which were tested, rice\uffe2\uff80\uff90wheat crop residue addition (30% of total production) was most effective in increasing soil organic carbon (SOC). In rice, without crop residue addition (WCR), soils under zero\uffe2\uff80\uff90tillage with transplanting, summer ploughing with transplanting and direct seeding with brown manuring showed a significant increase in SOC over the control (puddling in rice, conventional tillage in wheat). In these treatments relatively higher levels of carbon were attained in all aggregate fractions compared to the control. Soil aggregate sizes in meso (0.25\uffe2\uff80\uff902.0\uffe2\uff80\uff89mm) and macro (2\uffe2\uff80\uff908\uffe2\uff80\uff89mm) ranges increased, whereas micro (< 0.25\uffe2\uff80\uff89mm) fractions decreased in soils under zero\uffe2\uff80\uff90till practices, both with and without crop residue addition. Direct seeding with brown manuring and zero tillage with transplanting also showed an increase of 135% and 95%, respectively, over the control in microbial biomass carbon, without crop residue incorporation. In zero tillage with transplanting treatment, both with and without crop residue showed significant increase in soil carbon sequestration potential. Though the changes in accrued soil carbon did not bring about significant differences in terms of grain yield, overall synthesis in terms of balance between yield and carbon sequestration indicated that summer ploughing with transplanting and zero tillage with transplanting sequestered significantly higher rates of carbon, yet yielded on par with conventional practices. These could be appropriate alternatives to immediately replace conventional tillage and planting practices for rice\uffe2\uff80\uff90wheat cropping systems in the sodic soils of the Indo\uffe2\uff80\uff90Gangetic region.
", "keywords": ["2. Zero hunger", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "15. Life on land", "6. Clean water", "12. Responsible consumption"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/1477-8947.12071"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Natural%20Resources%20Forum", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1111/1477-8947.12071", "name": "item", "description": "10.1111/1477-8947.12071", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1111/1477-8947.12071"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2015-05-01T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1111/1365-2745.12668", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-04T16:18:52Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2016-09-19", "title": "Woody Plant Biomass And Carbon Exchange Depend On Elephant-Fire Interactions Across A Productivity Gradient In African Savanna", "description": "Summary
Elephants and fire are individually well\uffe2\uff80\uff90known disturbance agents within savanna ecosystems, but their interactive role in governing tree\uffe2\uff80\uff90cover dynamics and savanna\uffe2\uff80\uff93forest biome boundaries remains unresolved. Of central importance are the mechanisms by which elephants vs. fire affect tree biomass and cover, and how \uffe2\uff80\uff93 over long time periods \uffe2\uff80\uff93 both factors interact with rainfall and soils to govern tree biomass and carbon dynamics.
Here, we evaluated the response of woody vegetation to 56\uffc2\uffa0years of fire manipulation in South Africa's Kruger National Park, with three fire regimes (annual, triennial and unburned) replicated across a productivity gradient and subject to two periods of contrasting elephant abundances (generated by the cessation of culling in 1994).
Higher fire frequencies had a negative effect on woody biomass in the low\uffe2\uff80\uff90elephant period, but this effect was weak to negligible in the high\uffe2\uff80\uff90elephant period as the difference among fire treatments diminished. Moreover, elephants removed increasing amounts of woody biomass as productivity increased across study sites, but fire did not. We infer that elephant\uffe2\uff80\uff90induced tree mortality could overcome increases in woody\uffe2\uff80\uff90plant productivity, while fire\uffe2\uff80\uff90induced mortality alone could not.
Elephants caused woody\uffe2\uff80\uff90plant carbon to shift from a sink to a source; this effect was independent of fire treatment, with highest rates of net carbon removal in the wettest and most productive site.
Synthesis. Our results reveal a context\uffe2\uff80\uff90dependent interaction between fire and elephants as disturbance agents in savanna: the influence of fire on woody plants was sensitive to the abundance of elephants and diminished with increased plant productivity. In contrast, elephants were capable of shifting landscapes from relatively dense woodland to open savanna, even in unburned sites, and exerted strong impacts irrespective of site conditions and plant productivity.
", "keywords": ["2. Zero hunger", "0106 biological sciences", "13. Climate action", "15. Life on land", "01 natural sciences"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.12668"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Journal%20of%20Ecology", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1111/1365-2745.12668", "name": "item", "description": "10.1111/1365-2745.12668", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1111/1365-2745.12668"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2016-11-08T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1111/1365-2745.12962", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-04T16:18:52Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2018-04-16", "title": "An experimental extreme drought reduces the likelihood of species to coexist despite increasing intransitivity in competitive networks", "description": "Abstract
Very little is known about how variation in environmental conditions alters the strength and the structure of competitive networks and what are the consequences of this for species coexistence.
We performed a competition experiment with 10 annual plant species to parameterise a population model describing species\uffe2\uff80\uff99 dynamics according to their vital rates and pairwise competitive coefficients. Seeds from all species were sown under two different climatic scenarios: (1) right before the first major storm of the growing season and (2) after an imposed fall drought of 2\uffc2\uffa0months simulating an extreme climatic event of intense aridity.
Species\uffe2\uff80\uff99 demography and competitive responses were used to estimate pairwise stabilising niche differences and average fitness differences. In addition, we used tools from network theory to characterise the structure of multispecies competition from the determinants of species coexistence. Specifically, we evaluated changes in competitive dominance between species pairs, and the prevalence of intransitive competitive relationships for 120 triplets between these two climatic events.
The experimental extreme event significantly reduced fitness differences between species pairs. Such an equalising mechanism promotes coexistence. However, niche differences were also reduced in such a way that the number of species pairs whose niche differences overcame their fitness differences was reduced from six to two.
Contrary to our expectations, the extreme event did not increase the hierarchy of competitive dominance. Instead, and depending on the technique used, the prevalence of intransitivity remained marginally similar (17% to 22%) or significantly increased from 19.4% to 29.8%. This pattern was likely a consequence of the significant changes in competitive dominance between species pairs (26 changes out of 45; 58%).
Although fitness differences were equalised and intransitive competition promoted, our model predicted a lower likelihood of coexistence under the extreme event for both species pairs and triplets, mainly because competitive interactions did not promote enough niche differences to balance the observed fitness asymmetries in our competitive networks.
Synthesis. We empirically proved that an extreme climate results in communities with reduced niche and fitness differences in which species are less likely to coexist despite the increasing prevalence of intransitive competition.
", "keywords": ["Annual plants", "2. Zero hunger", "0106 biological sciences", "Competition", "Drought", "15. Life on land", "01 natural sciences", "6. Clean water", "Intransitive competition", "13. Climate action", "Fitness", "Niche", "Stabilising mechanisms", "Environmental filtering"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1365-2745.12962"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.12962"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Journal%20of%20Ecology", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1111/1365-2745.12962", "name": "item", "description": "10.1111/1365-2745.12962", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1111/1365-2745.12962"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2018-04-16T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1111/1365-2745.13040", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-04T16:18:53Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2018-08-14", "title": "Biotic controls of plant coexistence", "description": "Abstract
The quest for understanding the maintenance of species diversity has matured in recent decades under the umbrella of species coexistence theory, founded by Chesson (2000). The central conclusion of the theory is that coexistence at local scales depends on two opposing forces: average fitness differences between species, which drive the best\uffe2\uff80\uff90adapted species to exclude others, and stabilizing mechanisms, which promote diversity via niche differentiation.
Recent theoretical work has focussed on how interactions between plants and other organisms influence the equalizing and stabilizing forces. However, there is a lack of empirical information. Therefore, the next fundamental step is to assess the prevalence of these mechanisms for controlling plant coexistence across a wide range of interactions and systems.
To that end, this special feature presents 10 theoretical, observational, or manipulative studies illustrating 9 different biotic interactions including mutualisms (pollinators, seed dispersers, soil microbes, and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi) and antagonisms (leaf and seed herbivores, and leaf and root pathogens). All studies share a common question: how biotic interactions regulate plant coexistence?
Comparisons across studies suggest that biotic interactions modify both stabilizing and average fitness differences. In those cases where biotic interactions promote stable coexistence between plant species, both mutualistic and antagonistic interactions act more frequently as an equalizing rather than as a stabilizing mechanisms.
Besides these generalities, the studies of this special issue also present novel theoretical and empirical approaches to better understand the maintenance of species diversity over a wide variety of systems, environmental conditions, and organisms.
Synthesis. The studies presented here constitutes a solid base to empirically explore how mutualistic and antagonistic interactions act upon the determinants of plant species competition, and open novel paths for future research. Collectively, these advances will serve to pave the road for a better theoretical and empirical understanding of how biotic interactions control biodiversity.
", "keywords": ["2. Zero hunger", "0106 biological sciences", "Multitrophic interactions", "Antagonisms", "Fitness", "Niche", "Apparent competition", "Mutualisms", "15. Life on land", "01 natural sciences"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1365-2745.13040"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.13040"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Journal%20of%20Ecology", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1111/1365-2745.13040", "name": "item", "description": "10.1111/1365-2745.13040", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1111/1365-2745.13040"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2018-08-13T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1111/1365-2745.13319", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-04T16:18:53Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2019-12-17", "title": "Below\u2010ground responses to insect herbivory in ecosystems with woody plant canopies: A meta\u2010analysis", "description": "Abstract
Insect herbivory can have important consequences for the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems. Despite a growing recognition of the role of herbivores in above\uffe2\uff80\uff90ground\uffe2\uff80\uff93below\uffe2\uff80\uff90ground interactions, our current understanding is mainly restricted to studies of vertebrates in grassland and tundra ecosystems, while ecosystems with tree\uffe2\uff80\uff90like canopies (termed forests below) and invertebrates remain understudied.
Here, we assess the current state of knowledge of one key aspect of plant\uffe2\uff80\uff93herbivore interactions by conducting a meta\uffe2\uff80\uff90analysis of the peer\uffe2\uff80\uff90reviewed literature on the below\uffe2\uff80\uff90ground consequences of above\uffe2\uff80\uff90ground insect herbivory in forest ecosystems. Main results are reported as aggregated relative effect sizes (Cohen's d).
We find that above\uffe2\uff80\uff90ground insect herbivory reduced below\uffe2\uff80\uff90ground carbon (C) allocation by plants to roots (\uffe2\uff88\uff920.56) and root exudation (\uffe2\uff88\uff920.85), causing shifts in root\uffe2\uff80\uff93symbiont communities, for example, a decrease (\uffe2\uff88\uff920.67) in the abundance of ectomycorrhizal fungi. Microbial decomposer\uffc2\uffa0abundances showed no significant responses, while soil faunal abundances increased (0.50). C and nitrogen (N) mineralization rates (C: 0.48, N: 0.48) along with nutrient leaching (C: 0.30, N: 0.77) increased, with a stronger response to outbreak relative to background insect densities. The negative responses increased in strength in colder and dryer biomes while positive responses were reinforced in warmer and wetter biomes, thus extending previously shown effects for vertebrate herbivores to also include insect herbivory. The positive response by soil fauna to insect herbivory was the notable exception. This may be associated with the limited physical soil disturbance caused by insects compared to ungulates. Furthermore, we identified an under\uffe2\uff80\uff90representation in the literature of large areas of boreal and tropical biomes calling for research priorities to fill these knowledge gaps. We present three recommendations for future research: addressing (a) biological drivers of biogeochemistry and response pathways, (b) knowledge gap from boreal and tropical forests, and (c) heterogeneity of herbivore disturbances.
Synthesis. Insect herbivores significantly accelerate soil C and N cycling during outbreaks in forest ecosystems, but we lack knowledge on the underlying biological drivers. Overall, below\uffe2\uff80\uff90ground responses to insect herbivory are similar to vertebrate herbivory responses, which may simplify implementing herbivory effects into ecosystem models. Nonetheless, we identify a few important differences and general knowledge gaps on which we base recommendations for future research.
Plant\uffe2\uff80\uff90associated microbes play essential roles in nutrient uptake and plant productivity, but their role in driving plant germination, a critical stage in the plant life cycle, is still poorly understood.
We used data from a large\uffe2\uff80\uff90scale, field\uffe2\uff80\uff90based soil seed bank study to examine the relationship among plants germinating from the seed bank and soil microbial community composition. We combined this with an experiment using 34 laboratory\uffe2\uff80\uff90based microcosms whereby sterile soil was inoculated with microbes from different field sites to examine how microbes affect the germination of nine plant species.
The community composition of plants in the soil seed bank was highly and significantly associated with bacterial and fungal community composition, with stronger correlations for soil beneath plant canopies. Microbes predicted a unique portion of the variation in the community composition of germinants after accounting for differences in environmental variables. The strongest correlations among microbes and plant functional traits included those related to perenniality, growth form, plant size, root type and seed shape. Our microcosm study showed that different plant species had their own associated germination microbiome, and most plant\uffe2\uff80\uff93microbe interactions were positive during germination.
Synthesis. Our study provides evidence for intimate relationships between plant and soil biodiversity during germination. Our work fills an important knowledge gap for plant\uffe2\uff80\uff93microbe interactions and reveals valuable insights into the shared natural history of plants and microbes in terrestrial ecosystems.
Plant species diversity and identity can significantly modify litter decomposition, but the underlying mechanisms remain elusive, particularly for root litter. Here, we aimed to disentangle the mechanisms by which plant species diversity alters root litter decomposition. We hypothesised that (1) interactions between species in mixed communities result in litter that decomposes faster than litter produced in monocultures; (2) litter decomposition is accelerated in the presence of living plants, especially when the litter and living plant identities are matched (known as home\uffe2\uff80\uff90field advantage).
Monocultures and a mixture of four common grassland species were established to obtain individual litter and a \uffe2\uff80\uff98natural\uffe2\uff80\uff99 root litter mixture. An \uffe2\uff80\uff98artificial\uffe2\uff80\uff99 mixed litter was created using litter from monocultures, mixed in the same proportions as the species composition in the natural litter mixtures based on qPCR measurements. These six root litter types were incubated in four monocultures, a four\uffe2\uff80\uff90species mixture and an unplanted soil.
Root decomposition was strongly affected by root litter identity and the presence, but not diversity, of living roots. Mixed\uffe2\uff80\uff90species litter decomposed slower than expected based on the decomposition of single\uffe2\uff80\uff90species litters. In addition, the presence of living roots suppressed decomposition independent of the match between litter and living plant identities. Decomposition was not significantly different between the \uffe2\uff80\uff98natural\uffe2\uff80\uff99 and \uffe2\uff80\uff98artificial\uffe2\uff80\uff99 root litter mixtures, indicating that root\uffe2\uff80\uff90root interactions in species mixtures did not affect root chemical quality.
Synthesis. Suppressed decomposition in the presence of living roots indicates that interactions between microbial communities associated with living roots and root litter control root litter decomposition. As we found no support for the importance of home\uffe2\uff80\uff90field advantage or interspecific root interactions in modifying decomposition, suppressed decomposition of mixed\uffe2\uff80\uff90species litter seems to be primarily driven by chemical rather than biotic interactions.
Different fertilization managements of red soil, a kind of Ferralic Cambisol, strongly affected the soil properties and associated microbial communities. The association of the soil microbial community and functionality with long\uffe2\uff80\uff90term fertilization management in the unique low\uffe2\uff80\uff90productivity red soil ecosystem is important for both soil microbial ecology and agricultural production. Here, 454 pyrosequencing analysis of 16S recombinant ribonucleic acid genes andGeoChip4\uffe2\uff80\uff90NimbleGen\uffe2\uff80\uff90based functional gene analysis were used to study the soil bacterial community composition and functional genes involved in soil organic carbon degradation. Long\uffe2\uff80\uff90term nitrogen\uffe2\uff80\uff90containing chemical fertilization\uffe2\uff80\uff90induced soil acidification and fertility decline and significantly altered the soil bacterial community, whereas long\uffe2\uff80\uff90term organic fertilization and fallow management improved the soil quality and maintained the bacterial diversity. Short\uffe2\uff80\uff90term quicklime remediation of the acidified soils did not change the bacterial communities. Organic fertilization and fallow management supported eutrophic ecosystems, in which copiotrophic taxa increased in relative abundance and have a higher intensity of labile\uffe2\uff80\uff90C\uffe2\uff80\uff90degrading genes. However, long\uffe2\uff80\uff90term nitrogen\uffe2\uff80\uff90containing chemical fertilization treatments supported oligotrophic ecosystems, in which oligotrophic taxa increased in relative abundance and have a higher intensity of recalcitrant\uffe2\uff80\uff90C\uffe2\uff80\uff90degrading genes but a lower intensity of labile\uffe2\uff80\uff90C\uffe2\uff80\uff90degrading genes. Quicklime application increased the relative abundance of copiotrophic taxa and crop production, although these effects were utterly inadequate. This study provides insights into the interaction of soil bacterial communities, soil functionality and long\uffe2\uff80\uff90term fertilization management in the red soil ecosystem; these insights are important for improving the fertility of unique low\uffe2\uff80\uff90productivity red soil.", "keywords": ["0301 basic medicine", "2. Zero hunger", "China", "0303 health sciences", "Bacteria", "Nitrogen", "Agriculture", "Biodiversity", "15. Life on land", "6. Clean water", "Carbon", "Soil", "03 medical and health sciences", "13. Climate action", "Fertilizers", "Ecosystem", "Soil Microbiology"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.13098"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Environmental%20Microbiology", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1111/1462-2920.13098", "name": "item", "description": "10.1111/1462-2920.13098", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1111/1462-2920.13098"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2015-12-21T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1111/1462-2920.13842", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-04T16:18:53Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2017-06-27", "title": "Identification and characterisation of isoprene-degrading bacteria in an estuarine environment", "description": "SummaryApproximately one\uffe2\uff80\uff90third of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted to the atmosphere consists of isoprene, originating from the terrestrial and marine biosphere, with a profound effect on atmospheric chemistry. However, isoprene provides an abundant and largely unexplored source of carbon and energy for microbes. The potential for isoprene degradation in marine and estuarine samples from the Colne Estuary, UK, was investigated using DNA\uffe2\uff80\uff90Stable Isotope Probing (DNA\uffe2\uff80\uff90SIP). Analysis at two timepoints showed the development of communities dominated by Actinobacteria including members of the genera Mycobacterium, Rhodococcus, Microbacterium and Gordonia. Representative isolates, capable of growth on isoprene as sole carbon and energy source, were obtained from marine and estuarine locations, and isoprene\uffe2\uff80\uff90degrading strains of Gordonia and Mycobacterium were characterised physiologically and their genomes were sequenced. Genes predicted to be required for isoprene metabolism, including four\uffe2\uff80\uff90component isoprene monooxygenases (IsoMO), were identified and compared with previously characterised examples. Transcriptional and activity assays of strains growing on isoprene or alternative carbon sources showed that growth on isoprene is an inducible trait requiring a specific IsoMO. This study is the first to identify active isoprene degraders in estuarine and marine environments using DNA\uffe2\uff80\uff90SIP and to characterise marine isoprene\uffe2\uff80\uff90degrading bacteria at the physiological and molecular level.
", "keywords": ["0301 basic medicine", "570", "Volatile Organic Compounds", "0303 health sciences", "550", "Base Sequence", "610", "QR Microbiology", "Sequence Analysis", " DNA", "Environment", "6. Clean water", "Mixed Function Oxygenases", "Mycobacterium", "03 medical and health sciences", "Hemiterpenes", "13. Climate action", "Pentanes", "Butadienes", "Rhodococcus", "14. Life underwater", "Gordonia Bacterium", "Research Articles", "Genome", " Bacterial", "GE Environmental Sciences"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/63998/4/Published_manuscript.pdf"}, {"href": "http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/wol1/doi/10.1111/1462-2920.13842/fullpdf"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.13842"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Environmental%20Microbiology", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1111/1462-2920.13842", "name": "item", "description": "10.1111/1462-2920.13842", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1111/1462-2920.13842"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2017-07-21T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1111/1462-2920.16268", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-04T16:18:53Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2022-11-03", "title": "Environmental micro\u2010niche filtering shapes bacterial pioneer communities during primary colonization of a Himalayas' glacier forefield", "description": "AbstractThe pedogenesis from the mineral substrate released upon glacier melting has been explained with the succession of consortia of pioneer microorganisms, whose structure and functionality are determined by the environmental conditions developing in the moraine. However, the microbiome variability that can be expected in the environmentally heterogeneous niches occurring in a moraine at a given successional stage is poorly investigated. In a 50\uffe2\uff80\uff89m2 area in the forefield of the Lobuche glacier (Himalayas, 5050\uffe2\uff80\uff89m above sea level), we studied six sites of primary colonization presenting different topographical features (orientation, elevation and slope) and harbouring greyish/dark biological soil crusts (BSCs). The spatial vicinity of the sites opposed to their topographical differences, allowed us to examine the effect of environmental conditions independently from the time of deglaciation. The bacterial microbiome diversity and their co\uffe2\uff80\uff90occurrence network, the bacterial metabolisms predicted from 16S rRNA gene high\uffe2\uff80\uff90throughput sequencing, and the microbiome intact polar lipids were investigated in the BSCs and the underlying sediment deep layers (DLs). Different bacterial microbiomes inhabited the BSCs and the DLs, and their composition varied among sites, indicating a niche\uffe2\uff80\uff90specific role of the micro\uffe2\uff80\uff90environmental conditions in the bacterial communities' assembly. In the heterogeneous sediments of glacier moraines, physico\uffe2\uff80\uff90chemical and micro\uffe2\uff80\uff90climatic variations at the site\uffe2\uff80\uff90spatial scale are crucial in shaping the microbiome microvariability and structuring the pioneer bacterial communities during pedogenesis.
", "keywords": ["0301 basic medicine", "Pedogenesis", "0303 health sciences", "Glacier Foreland Succession", "Bacteria", "Biological soil crust", "15. Life on land", "Primary Colonization", "Soil", "03 medical and health sciences", "13. Climate action", "RNA", " Ribosomal", " 16S", "Glacier Moraines", "Cold Deserts", "Pioneer Bacterial Communities", "Ice Cover", "Soil moisture", "Research Articles", "Soil Microbiology"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://air.unimi.it/bitstream/2434/949070/2/Rolli%20et%20al%202022%20Environmental%20micro%e2%80%90niche%20filtering%20shapes%20bacterial%20pioneer%20communities.pdf"}, {"href": "https://eprints.ncl.ac.uk/fulltext.aspx?url=302678/40A25368-9064-4886-B8E6-E7942511FA71.pdf&pub_id=302678"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.16268"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Environmental%20Microbiology", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1111/1462-2920.16268", "name": "item", "description": "10.1111/1462-2920.16268", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1111/1462-2920.16268"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2022-11-18T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1111/1365-2745.14215", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-04T16:18:53Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2023-10-25", "title": "Defoliation and fertilisation differentially moderate root trait effects on soil abiotic and biotic properties", "description": "Abstract
Root functional traits are known to influence soil properties that underpin ecosystem functioning. Yet few studies have explored how root traits simultaneously influence physical, chemical, and biological properties of soil, or how these responses are modified by common grassland perturbations that shape roots, such as defoliation and fertilisation.
Here, we explored how root traits of a wide range of grassland plant species with contrasting resource acquisition strategies (i.e. conservative vs. exploitative strategy plant species) respond to defoliation and fertilisation individually and in combination, and examined cascading impacts on a range of soil abiotic and biotic properties that underpin ecosystem functioning.
We found that the amplitude of the response of root traits to defoliation and fertilisation varied among plant species, in most cases independently of plant resource acquisition strategies. However, the direction of the root trait responses (increase or decrease) to perturbations was consistent across all plant species, with defoliation and fertilisation exerting opposing effects on root traits. Specific root length increased relative to non\uffe2\uff80\uff90perturbed control in response to defoliation, while root biomass, root mass density, and root length density decreased. Fertilisation induced the opposite responses. We also found that both defoliation and fertilisation individually enhanced the role of root traits in regulating soil biotic and abiotic properties, especially soil aggregate stability.
Synthesis: Our results indicate that defoliation and fertilisation, two common grassland perturbations, have contrasting impacts on root traits of grassland plant species, with direct and indirect short\uffe2\uff80\uff90term consequences for a wide range of soil abiotic and biotic properties that underpin ecosystem functioning.
", "keywords": ["Plant traits", "Soil nutrients", "0106 biological sciences", "Plant-soil interactions", "Growth strategy", "Soil microbial community", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "Perturbations", "01 natural sciences", "Soil aggregates", "Research Articles"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.14215"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Journal%20of%20Ecology", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1111/1365-2745.14215", "name": "item", "description": "10.1111/1365-2745.14215", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1111/1365-2745.14215"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2023-10-25T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1111/1440-1703.12479", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-04T16:18:53Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2024-05-13", "title": "Can vermicomposting be used to process hyperaccumulator biomass in nickel agromining?", "description": "AbstractHyperaccumulator plants are a botanical curiosity that have allowed the development of agromining of metals, with a special focus on nickel. In nickel agromining, this element is recovered from ashed hyperaccumulators cultivated on metal\uffe2\uff80\uff90rich soils. In order to explore bio\uffe2\uff80\uff90based approaches for the decomposition of hyperaccumulator biomass and nickel recovery that do not include burning, we performed a vermicomposting experiment using the earthworm species Eisenia andrei and the biomass of Bornmuellera emarginata (which contained almost 1% of nickel). We conducted our experiment for 12\uffe2\uff80\uff89weeks and assessed the decomposition process of the hyperaccumulator biomass, changes in earthworm number and biomass, and changes in nickel concentration and mobility. Despite the initial mortality and an increase of Ni concentration in earthworm tissues, E. andrei was able to decompose B. emarginata biomass. This process also showed a massive colonization of the biomass by a fungus during the first weeks of the assay. Our results indicate that the vermicomposted hyperaccumulator biomass had a higher nickel concentration than the starting material but the diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid\uffe2\uff80\uff90extractable nickel decreased. At the same time, due to earthworm activity, the nickel was redistributed and diluted in the vermicompost bedding, reducing the interest of this approach for agromining, but opening the perspective of using the vermicomposted hyperaccumulator biomass as an organic amendment in nickel\uffe2\uff80\uff90deficient crops.Nitrogen (N) deposition affects myriad aspects of terrestrial ecosystem structure and function, and microbial communities may be particularly sensitive to anthropogenic N inputs. However, our understanding of N deposition effects on microbial communities is far from complete, especially for drylands where data are comparatively rare. To address the need for an improved understanding of dryland biological responses to N deposition, we conducted a two\uffe2\uff80\uff90year fertilization experiment in a semiarid grassland on the Colorado Plateau in the southwestern United States. We evaluated effects of varied levels of N inputs on archaeal, bacterial, fungal and chlorophyte community composition within three microhabitats: biological soil crusts (biocrusts), soil below biocrusts, and the plant rhizosphere. Surprisingly, N addition did not affect the community composition or diversity of any of these microbial groups; however, microbial community composition varied significantly among sampling microhabitats. Further, while plant richness, diversity, and cover showed no response to N addition, there were strong linkages between plant properties and microbial community structure. Overall, these findings highlight the potential for some dryland communities to have limited biotic ability to retain augmented N inputs, possibly leading to large N losses to the atmosphere and to aquatic systems.
", "keywords": ["2. Zero hunger", "0301 basic medicine", "0303 health sciences", "Colorado", "Nitrogen", "Fungi", "15. Life on land", "Plants", "Archaea", "Grassland", "Soil", "03 medical and health sciences", "13. Climate action", "Rhizosphere", "Biomass", "Ecosystem", "Soil Microbiology"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.13678"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Environmental%20Microbiology", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1111/1462-2920.13678", "name": "item", "description": "10.1111/1462-2920.13678", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1111/1462-2920.13678"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2017-03-13T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1111/1462-2920.13954", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-04T16:18:53Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2022-10-18", "title": "Application of stable-isotope labelling techniques for the detection of active diazotrophs", "description": "SummaryInvestigating active participants in the fixation of dinitrogen gas is vital as N is often a limiting factor for primary production. Biological nitrogen fixation is performed by a diverse guild of bacteria and archaea (diazotrophs), which can be free\uffe2\uff80\uff90living or symbionts. Free\uffe2\uff80\uff90living diazotrophs are widely distributed in the environment, yet our knowledge about their identity and ecophysiology is still limited. A major challenge in investigating this guild is inferring activity from genetic data as this process is highly regulated. To address this challenge, we evaluated and improved several 15N\uffe2\uff80\uff90based methods for detecting N2 fixation activity (with a focus on soil samples) and studying active diazotrophs. We compared the acetylene reduction assay and the 15N2 tracer method and demonstrated that the latter is more sensitive in samples with low activity. Additionally, tracing 15N into microbial RNA provides much higher sensitivity compared to bulk soil analysis. Active soil diazotrophs were identified with a 15N\uffe2\uff80\uff90RNA\uffe2\uff80\uff90SIP approach optimized for environmental samples and benchmarked to 15N\uffe2\uff80\uff90DNA\uffe2\uff80\uff90SIP. Lastly, we investigated the feasibility of using SIP\uffe2\uff80\uff90Raman microspectroscopy for detecting 15N\uffe2\uff80\uff90labelled cells. Taken together, these tools allow identifying and investigating active free\uffe2\uff80\uff90living diazotrophs in a highly sensitive manner in diverse environments, from bulk to the single\uffe2\uff80\uff90cell level.
", "keywords": ["Spectrum Analysis", " Raman", "BIOLOGICAL SOIL CRUSTS", "106005 Bioinformatik", "106023 Molekularbiologie", "Nitrogen Fixation", "REVEALS", "FLUORESCENCE", "Research Articles", "Soil Microbiology", "106022 Mikrobiologie", "SPECTROSCOPY", "Bacteria", "Nitrogen Isotopes", "106003 Biodiversity research", "106023 Molecular biology", "GENETIC-REGULATION", "Archaea", "6. Clean water", "SURFACE-ENHANCED RAMAN", "COMMUNITY", "106003 Biodiversit\u00e4tsforschung", "13. Climate action", "Isotope Labeling", "106022 Microbiology", "NITROGEN-FIXATION", "106005 Bioinformatics", "RIBOSOMAL-RNA", "N-2 FIXATION"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1462-2920.13954"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.13954"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Environmental%20Microbiology", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1111/1462-2920.13954", "name": "item", "description": "10.1111/1462-2920.13954", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1111/1462-2920.13954"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2017-12-15T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1111/1462-2920.15018", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-04T16:18:53Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2020-04-14", "title": "Subsistence and complexity of antimicrobial resistance on a community\u2010wide level", "description": "SummaryThere are a multitude of resistance strategies that microbes can apply to avoid inhibition by antimicrobials. One of these strategies is the enzymatic modification of the antibiotic, in a process generally termed inactivation. Furthermore, some microorganisms may not be limited to the mere inactivation of the antimicrobial compounds. They can continue by further enzymatic degradation of the compounds' carbon backbone, taking nutritional and energetic advantage of the former antibiotic. This driving force to harness an additional food source in a complex environment adds another level of complexity to the reasonably well\uffe2\uff80\uff90understood process of antibiotic resistance proliferation on a single cell level: It brings bioprotection into play at the level of microbial community. Despite the possible implications of a resistant community in a host and a lurking antibiotic failure, knowledge of degradation pathways of antibiotics and their connections is scarce. Currently, it is limited to only a few families of antibiotics (e.g. \uffce\uffb2\uffe2\uff80\uff90lactams and sulfonamides). In this article, we discuss the fluctuating nature of the relationship between antibiotic resistance and the biodegradation of antibiotics. This distinction mainly depends on the genetic background of the microbe, as general resistance genes can be recruited to function in a biodegradation pathway.
", "keywords": ["0301 basic medicine", "2. Zero hunger", "Opinion", "Sulfonamides", "0303 health sciences", "03 medical and health sciences", "Biodegradation", " Environmental", "Bacteria", "Drug Resistance", " Bacterial", "Humans", "beta-Lactams", "Anti-Bacterial Agents"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1462-2920.15018"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.15018"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Environmental%20Microbiology", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1111/1462-2920.15018", "name": "item", "description": "10.1111/1462-2920.15018", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1111/1462-2920.15018"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2020-04-28T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1111/1462-2920.15647", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-04T16:18:53Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2021-06-17", "title": "\u2018Cry\u2010for\u2010help\u2019 in contaminated soil: a dialogue among plants and soil microbiome to survive in hostile conditions", "description": "SummaryAn open question in environmental ecology regards the mechanisms triggered by root chemistry to drive the assembly and functionality of a beneficial microbiome to rapidly adapt to stress conditions. This phenomenon, originally described in plant defence against pathogens and predators, is encompassed in the \uffe2\uff80\uff98cry\uffe2\uff80\uff90for\uffe2\uff80\uff90help\uffe2\uff80\uff99 hypothesis. Evidence suggests that this mechanism may be part of the adaptation strategy to ensure the holobiont fitness in polluted environments. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were considered as model pollutants due to their toxicity, recalcitrance and poor phyto\uffe2\uff80\uff90extraction potential, which lead to a plethora of phytotoxic effects and rise environmental safety concerns. Plants have inefficient detoxification processes to catabolize PCBs, even leading to by\uffe2\uff80\uff90products with a higher toxicity. We propose that the \uffe2\uff80\uff98cry\uffe2\uff80\uff90for\uffe2\uff80\uff90help\uffe2\uff80\uff99 mechanism could drive the exudation\uffe2\uff80\uff90mediated recruitment and sustainment of the microbial services for PCBs removal, exerted by an array of anaerobic and aerobic microbial degrading populations working in a complex metabolic network. Through this synergistic interaction, the holobiont copes with the soil contamination, releasing the plant from the pollutant stress by the ecological services provided by the boosted metabolism of PCBs microbial degraders. Improving knowledge of root chemistry under PCBs stress is, therefore, advocated to design rhizoremediation strategies based on plant microbiome engineering.Isoprene (2\uffe2\uff80\uff90methyl\uffe2\uff80\uff901,3\uffe2\uff80\uff90butadiene) is emitted to the atmosphere each year in sufficient quantities to rival methane (>500\uffe2\uff80\uff89Tg\uffe2\uff80\uff89C\uffe2\uff80\uff89yr\uffe2\uff88\uff921), primarily due to emission by trees and other plants. Chemical reactions of isoprene with other atmospheric compounds, such as hydroxyl radicals and inorganic nitrogen species (NOx), have implications for global warming and local air quality, respectively. For many years, it has been estimated that soil\uffe2\uff80\uff90dwelling bacteria consume a significant amount of isoprene (~20\uffe2\uff80\uff89Tg\uffe2\uff80\uff89C\uffe2\uff80\uff89yr\uffe2\uff88\uff921), but the mechanisms underlying the biological sink for isoprene have been poorly understood. Studies have indicated or confirmed the ability of diverse bacterial genera to degrade isoprene, whether by the canonical iso\uffe2\uff80\uff90type isoprene degradation pathway or through other less well\uffe2\uff80\uff90characterized mechanisms. Here, we review current knowledge of isoprene metabolism and highlight key areas for further research. In particular, examples of isoprene\uffe2\uff80\uff90degraders that do not utilize the isoprene monooxygenase have been identified in recent years. This has fascinating implications both for the mechanism of isoprene uptake by bacteria, and also for the ecology of isoprene\uffe2\uff80\uff90degraders in the environments.
", "keywords": ["0301 basic medicine", "0303 health sciences", "03 medical and health sciences", "Hemiterpenes", "Bacteria", "13. Climate action", "Ecological Microbiology", "Pentanes", "Butadienes", "Plants", "15. Life on land", "6. Clean water"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1462-2920.16325"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.16325"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Environmental%20Microbiology", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1111/1462-2920.16325", "name": "item", "description": "10.1111/1462-2920.16325", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1111/1462-2920.16325"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2023-01-04T00:00:00Z"}}], "links": [{"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "This document as GeoJSON", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=U&offset=8350&f=json", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"rel": "alternate", "type": "text/html", "title": "This document as HTML", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=U&offset=8350&f=html", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection URL", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"type": "application/geo+json", "rel": "prev", "title": "items (prev)", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=U&offset=8300", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"rel": "next", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "items (next)", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=U&offset=8400", "hreflang": "en-US"}], "numberMatched": 27034, "numberReturned": 50, "distributedFeatures": [], "timeStamp": "2026-04-05T04:54:01.760466Z"}