0000000001039867
AUTHOR
Stefan Scheu
Global Soil Biodiversity Atlas
SPE EA Pôle BIOME The Atlas is divided in 8 chapters covering all the aspects of soil biodiversity: - Chapter I: The soil habitat - Chapter II: Diversity of soil organisms - Chapter III: Geographical and temporal distribution - Chapter IV: Ecosystem functions and services - Chapter V: Threats - Chapter VI: Interventions - Chapter VII: Policy, education and outreach - Chapter VIII: Conclusions Soil biodiversity experts from all over the world are involved in the project aiming at the creation of a reference publication not only for soil biodiversity researchers but also policy makers and general public.; International audience; The Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative (GSBI) and the Joint Res…
Priorities for research in soil ecology
The ecological interactions that occur in and with soil are of consequence in many ecosystems on the planet. These interactions provide numerous essential ecosystem services, and the sustainable management of soils has attracted increasing scientific and public attention. Although soil ecology emerged as an independent field of research many decades ago, and we have gained important insights into the functioning of soils, there still are fundamental aspects that need to be better understood to ensure that the ecosystem services that soils provide are not lost and that soils can be used in a sustainable way. In this perspectives paper, we highlight some of the major knowledge gaps that shoul…
Tropical Andean forests are highly susceptible to nutrient inputs--rapid effects of experimental N and P addition to an Ecuadorian montane forest.
Tropical regions are facing increasing atmospheric inputs of nutrients, which will have unknown consequences for the structure and functioning of these systems. Here, we show that Neotropical montane rainforests respond rapidly to moderate additions of N (50 kg ha -1 yr -1) and P (10 kg ha -1 yr -1). Monitoring of nutrient fluxes demonstrated that the majority of added nutrients remained in the system, in either soil or vegetation. N and P additions led to not only an increase in foliar N and P concentrations, but also altered soil microbial biomass, standing fine root biomass, stem growth, and litterfall. The different effects suggest that trees are primarily limited by P, whereas some pro…
Global monitoring of soil animal communities using a common methodology.
Here we introduce the Soil BON Foodweb Team, a cross-continental collaborative network that aims to monitor soil animal communities and food webs using consistent methodology at a global scale. Soil animals support vital soil processes via soil structure modification, consumption of dead organic matter, and interactions with microbial and plant communities. Soil animal effects on ecosystem functions have been demonstrated by correlative analyses as well as in laboratory and field experiments, but these studies typically focus on selected animal groups or species at one or few sites with limited variation in environmental conditions. The lack of comprehensive harmonised large-scale soil anim…
Nutrient Additions Affecting Matter Turnover in Forest and Pasture Ecosystems
Nutrient inputs into ecosystems of the tropical mountain rainforest region are projected to further increase in the next decades. To investigate whether important ecosystem services such as nutrient cycling and matter turnover in native forests and pasture ecosystems show different patterns of response, two nutrient addition experiments have been established: NUMEX in the forest and FERPAST at the pasture. Both ecosystems already responded 1.5 years after the start of nutrient application (N, P, NP, Ca). Interestingly, most nutrients remained in the respective systems. While the pasture grass was co-limited by N and P, most tree species responded to P addition. Soil microbial biomass in the…