Soil organisms provide crucial ecosystem services that support human life. However, little is known about their diversity, distribution, and the threats affecting them. Here, we compiled a global dataset of 60 sampled earthworm communities from over 7000 sites in 56 countries to predict patterns in earthworm diversity, abundance, and biomass. We identify the environmental drivers shaping these patterns. Local species richness and abundance typically peaked at higher latitudes, while biomass peaked in the tropics, patterns opposite to those observed in aboveground organisms. Similar to many aboveground taxa, climate variables were more important in shaping earthworm communities than soil properties or habitat 65 cover. These findings highlight that, while the environmental drivers are similar, conservation strategies to conserve aboveground biodiversity might not be appropriate for earthworm diversity, especially in a changing climate.

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Biological diversity conservation within natural reserves has been prioritized, but conservation efforts outside protected areas (where most human activities take place) have been very little considered. In this scenario, an alternative agricultural practice that may reduce the impacts of fragmentation in outer landscapes is a perforation process, which involves conservation in agricultural fields surrounded by continuous forests. Such practices enhance the positive impact of ecological services on fields. In this study we analyzed the biological diversity state in perforation fields and their surrounding forests. The analysis was done using dung beetles as biological indicators. A nested pattern in dung beetles distribution was found, which ordered the surrounding continuous forest sites as the ones with the highest species richness, followed by the perforation fields, and placed the fragmentation practice fields (continuous agricultural fields surrounding forest patches) with the lowest one. Indicator species for perforation fields and surrounding continuous forests were chosen. In general, perforation practice fields differed in composition, based upon functional groups richness and identity; it also contained a higher species richness than the fragmentation practice. Agricultural practices that enhance biological diversity conservation such as perforation, should be recommended and considered in natural resource management by local communities in order to take advantage of ecological services that otherwise may be gradually lost.

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Antecedentes y Objetivos: La colonización de los sustratos líticos por comunidades fúngicas está determinada por las propiedades del sustrato (bioreceptividad) y las condiciones climáticas y microclimáticas. Sin embargo, los efectos del tiempo de exposición de la superficie de la roca calcárea al ambiente sobre la composición de las comunidades fúngicas no se ha investigado. En este estudio, analizamos la composición y estructura de las comunidades fúngicas inmersas en biopelículas asociadas a roca calcárea, en paredes de edificaciones modernas construidas a diferentes tiempos en un ambiente subtropical en Campeche, México.Métodos: Se consideró una cronosecuencia de paredes construidas a uno, cinco y 10 años. Sobre cada pared, se rasparon tres superficies de 3 × 3 cm para cada biopelícula. Los hongos se aislaron por la técnica de lavado y filtración de partículas, posteriormente se inocularon en dos medios de cultivo contrastantes (un medio oligotrófico y uno copiotrófico). Los hongos se identificaron de acuerdo a sus características macro y microscópicas.Resultados clave: Encontramos 73 géneros y 202 especies de 844 aislados. Los resultados mostraron que las comunidades fúngicas son diferentes en las tres biopelículas. En la biopelícula de desarrollo intermedio encontramos un alto número de aislados, pero tanto la riqueza como la diversidad fueron bajas. En contraste, en la biopelícula avanzada, los valores de riqueza de especies y diversidad fueron altos, y las especies abundantes fueron Hyphomycete 1, Myrothecium roridum y Pestalotiopsis maculans. Las especies dominantes en la biopelícula intermedia fueron Curvularia lunata, Curvularia pallescens, Fusarium oxysporum y Fusarium redolens, y en la biopelícula joven fueron Cladosporium cladosporioides, Curvularia clavata, Paraconiothyrium sp. y Phoma eupyrena.Conclusiones: Nuestros resultados sugieren que la composición de la comunidad fúngica en cada biopelícula cambia de acuerdo al tiempo de exposición de la roca calcárea al ambiente. Además, como parte de la composición de la comunidad fúngica, encontramos un conjunto de especies poco comunes que podrían ser autóctonas en la roca calcárea.

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Earthworms are an important soil taxon as ecosystem engineers, providing a variety of crucial ecosystem functions and services. Little is known about their diversity and distribution at large spatial scales, despite the availability of considerable amounts of local-scale data. Earthworm diversity data, obtained from the primary literature or provided directly by authors, were collated with information on site locations, including coordinates, habitat cover, and soil properties. Datasets were required, at a minimum, to include abundance or biomass of earthworms at a site. Where possible, site-level species lists were included, as well as the abundance and biomass of individual species and ecological groups. This global dataset contains 10,840 sites, with 184 species, from 60 countries and all continents except Antarctica. The data were obtained from 182 published articles, published between 1973 and 2017, and 17 unpublished datasets. Amalgamating data into a single global database will assist researchers in investigating and answering a wide variety of pressing questions, for example, jointly assessing aboveground and belowground biodiversity distributions and drivers of biodiversity change.

The assembly of fungal communities on stone materials is mainly influenced by the differential bioreceptivity of such materials and environmental conditions. However, little is known about the role of fungal interactions in the colonization and establishment of fungal species. We analyzed the effects of intra- and interspecific interactions between 11 species of fungi in oligotrophic and copiotrophic media and on limestone coupons. In a previous study, these species were the most frequently isolated in the epilithic biofilms of limestone walls exposed to a subtropical climate. In the culture media, we found a greater frequency of intra- and interspecific inhibitory effects in the oligotrophic medium than in the copiotrophic medium. On the limestone coupons, all fungi were able to establish; however, the colonization success rate varied significantly. Cladosporium cladosporioides had a less extensive colonization in isolation (control) than in dual interactions (coexistence) with other species. Phoma eupyrena exhibited the highest colonization success rate and competitive dominance among all tested species. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) analyses revealed that Pestalotiopsis maculans and Paraconiothyrium sp. produced calcium oxalate crystals during their growth on coupon surfaces, both in isolation and in dual interactions. Our results demonstrate that interactions between abundant fungal species influence the fungal colonization on substrates, the biomineralization and the fungal community assemblage growing in limestone biofilms.