Belowground biodiversity and ecosystem functioning

Abstract

Evidence is mounting that the immense diversity of microorganisms and animals that live belowground contributes significantly to shaping aboveground biodiversity and the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems. Our understanding of how this belowground biodiversity is distributed, and how it regulates the structure and functioning of terrestrial ecosystems, is rapidly growing. Evidence also points to soil biodiversity as having a key role in determining the ecological and evolutionary responses of terrestrial ecosystems to current and future environmental change. Here we review recent progress and propose avenues for further research in this field.

Facilitation between woody and herbaceous plants that associate with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in temperate European forests

“…Coexistence of ECM and AM plants could thus have a mitigating effect on stand resilience to environmental stresses. Comparable arguments for ecosystem resilience can be made from a mycological perspective due to the resulting higher microbial diversity (Bardgett & van der Putten, 2014) when both ECM and AM fungi coexist in a habitat.…”

Microbial regulation of the soil carbon cycle: evidence from gene–enzyme relationships

“…Managing soils to obtain multiple economic, societal and environmental benefits requires integrated policies and incentives that maintain and enhance soil C (Singh et al, 2010;Victoria et al, 2012;Trivedi et al, 2013). Soil microorganisms contribute greatly to ecosystem C budgets through their roles as decomposers, plant symbionts or pathogens, thereby modifying nutrient availability and influencing C turnover and retention in soil (Bardgett et al, 2008;Singh et al, 2010;Bardgett and van der Putten, 2014). The incredible numbers and enormous diversity of soil microbes creates huge challenge to establish the links between diversity and functions related to soil organic matter decomposition and stabilization (Hubbell, 2005).…”

“…Despite the valid assumption that soil microbes influence the way in which ecosystems function, there is a very limited evidence on whether there is a direct link between microbial community structure and function in the global biogeochemical cycles of terrestrial ecosystems (Rocca et al, 2014;Kubartová et al, 2015;van der Wal et al, 2015). These gaps have kept soil microbes outside of the ongoing debates about global biodiversity loss, conservation and sustainable management policies (Bardgett and van der Putten, 2014) and have precluded the inclusion of microbial communities in global biogeochemical models such as Earth system models (ESMs) that inform citizens and policy makers of C dynamics and exchange between the biosphere and the atmosphere (Wieder et al, 2013(Wieder et al, , 2015. Understanding the extent to which soil microbial communities control ecosystem processes is thus critical to establish effective policies to preserve microbial diversity hotspots and the key ecosystem functions and services that soil microbes provide (Singh et al, 2010;Bardgett and van der Putten, 2014).…”

Effects of temperature, soil substrate, and microbial community on carbon mineralization across three climatically contrasting forest sites

“…Microbial decomposition of soil organic matter (SOM) is the core process of soil carbon (C) mineralization and nutrient cycling, linking closely to other ecosystem functionalities (Bardgett & van der Putten, 2014; van der Heijden, Bardgett, & Van Straalen, 2008). Understanding the roles and underlying mechanisms of soil microbial communities in driving SOM decomposition is critical for modelling the terrestrial carbon cycling in the context of global climate change and environmental perturbations (Bardgett, Freeman, & Ostle, 2008; Schmidt et al., 2011; Xu et al., 2014).…”