RT Journal Article
T1 Water availability creates global thresholds in multidimensional soil biodiversity and functions
A1 Zhang, Jianwei
A1 Feng, Youzhi
A1 Maestre, Fernando T.
A1 Berdugo Vega, Miguel
A1 Wang, Juntao
A1 Coleine, Claudia
A1 Sáez Sandino, Tadeo
A1 García Velázquez, Laura
A1 Singh, Brajesh K.
A1 Delgado Baquerizo, Manuel
AB Soils support an immense portion of Earth’s biodiversity and maintain multiple ecosystem functions which are essential for human well-being. Environmental thresholds are known to govern global vegetation patterns, but it is still unknown whether they can be used to predict the distribution of soil organisms and functions across global biomes. Using a global field survey of 383 sites across contrasting climatic and vegetation conditions, here we showed that soil biodiversity and functions exhibited pervasive nonlinear patterns worldwide and are mainly governed by water availability (precipitation and potential evapotranspiration). Changes in water availability resulted in drastic shifts in soil biodiversity (bacteria, fungi, protists and invertebrates) and soil functions including plant–microbe interactions, plant productivity, soil biogeochemical cycles and soil carbon sequestration. Our findings highlight that crossing specific water availability thresholds can have critical consequences for the provision of essential ecosystem services needed to sustain our planet.
PB Nature Research
YR 2023
FD 2023-05
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/122793
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/122793
LA eng
NO Zhang, J., Feng, Y., Maestre, F.T. et al. Water availability creates global thresholds in multidimensional soil biodiversity and functions. Nat Ecol Evol 7, 1002–1011 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-02071-3
NO Acknowledgements:Y.F. is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (42177297) and CAS Strategic Priority Research Program (XDA28010302). M.D.-B. acknowledges support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation for the I+D+i project PID2020-115813RA-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033. M.D.-B. is also supported by a project of the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) and the Consejería de Transformación Económica, Industria, Conocimiento y Universidades of the Junta de Andalucía (FEDER Andalucía 2014-2020 Objetivo temático ‘01—Refuerzo de la investigación, el desarrollo tecnológico y la innovación’) associated with the research project P20_00879 (ANDABIOMA). F.T.M. is supported by Generalitat Valenciana grant CIDEGENT/2018/041 and the Horizon Europe programme of the European Union (SOILGUARD, grant agreement no. 101000371). M.B. acknowledges funding from Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through a Ramón y Cajal Fellowship (no. RYC2021-031797-I). C.C. is supported by the European Commission under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement no. 702057 (DRYLIFE). The survey of dryland areas was supported by the European Research Council (BIODESERT project, grant agreement no. 647038).
NO European Commission
NO European Research Council
NO Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (España)
NO Junta de Andalucía
NO Generalitat Valenciana
NO National Natural Science Foundation of China
NO Chinese Academy of Sciences
DS Docta Complutense
RD 17 dic 2025