Global changes and their environmental stressors have a significant impact on soil biodiversity: A meta-analysis

TY - JOUR

T1 - Global changes and their environmental stressors have a significant impact on soil biodiversity

T2 - A meta-analysis

AU - Phillips, Helen R.P.

AU - Cameron, Erin K.

AU - Eisenhauer, Nico

AU - Burton, Victoria J.

AU - Ferlian, Olga

AU - Jin, Yiming

AU - Kanabar, Sahana

AU - Malladi, Sandhya

AU - Murphy, Rowan E.

AU - Peter, Anne

AU - Petrocelli, Isis

AU - Ristok, Christian

AU - Tyndall, Katharine

AU - Putten, Wim van der

AU - Beaumelle, Léa

N1 - Data archiving: zenodo

PY - 2024/9/20

Y1 - 2024/9/20

N2 - Identifying the main threats to soil biodiversity is crucial as soils harbor ∼60% of global biodiversity. Many previous meta-analyses investigating the impact of different global changes (GCs) on biodiversity have omitted soil fauna or are limited by the GCs studied. We conducted a broad-scale meta-analysis focused on soil fauna communities, analyzing 3,161 effect sizes from 624 publications studying climate change, land-use intensification, pollution, nutrient enrichment, invasive species and habitat fragmentation. Land-use intensification resulted in large reductions in soil fauna communities, especially for the larger-bodied groups. Unexpectedly, pollution caused the largest negative impact on soil biodiversity - particularly worrying due to continually increasing levels of pollution and poor mechanistic understanding of impacts relative to other GCs. Not all GCs and stressors were detrimental; organic-based nutrient enrichment often resulted in positive responses. Including soil biodiversity in large-scale analyses is vital to fully understand the impact of GCs across the different realms.

AB - Identifying the main threats to soil biodiversity is crucial as soils harbor ∼60% of global biodiversity. Many previous meta-analyses investigating the impact of different global changes (GCs) on biodiversity have omitted soil fauna or are limited by the GCs studied. We conducted a broad-scale meta-analysis focused on soil fauna communities, analyzing 3,161 effect sizes from 624 publications studying climate change, land-use intensification, pollution, nutrient enrichment, invasive species and habitat fragmentation. Land-use intensification resulted in large reductions in soil fauna communities, especially for the larger-bodied groups. Unexpectedly, pollution caused the largest negative impact on soil biodiversity - particularly worrying due to continually increasing levels of pollution and poor mechanistic understanding of impacts relative to other GCs. Not all GCs and stressors were detrimental; organic-based nutrient enrichment often resulted in positive responses. Including soil biodiversity in large-scale analyses is vital to fully understand the impact of GCs across the different realms.

U2 - 10.1016/j.isci.2024.110540

DO - 10.1016/j.isci.2024.110540

M3 - Article

SN - 2589-0042

VL - 27

JO - iScience

JF - iScience

IS - 9

M1 - 110540

ER -