The role of soils on pollination and seed dispersal

Abstract

Ongoing environmental changes are affecting physical, chemical and biological soil components. Evidence of impacts of soil changes on pollinators' and seed dispersers' behaviour, fitness and density is scarce, but growing. Here, we reviewed information on such impacts and on a number of mechanisms that may explain its propagation, taking into account the full range of resources required by the large and diverse number of species of these two important functional groups. We show that while there is substantial evidence on the effects of soil nitrogen enrichment and changes in soil water content on the quality and quantity of floral and fruit resources, little is known on the effects of changes of other soil properties (e.g. soil pH, soil structure, other nutrients). Also, the few studies showing correlations between soil changes and pollinator and seed disperser foraging behaviour or fitness do not clearly identify the mechanisms that explain such correlation. Finally, most studies (including those with nitrogen and water) are local and limited to a small number of species, and it remains unclear how variable such effects are across time and geographical regions, and the strength of interactive effects between soil properties. Increasing research on this topic, taking into consideration how impacts propagate through species interaction networks, will provide essential information to predict impacts of ongoing environmental changes and help guide conservation plans that aim to minimize impacts on ecosystem functioning. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The role of soils in delivering Nature's Contributions to People’.

Soil-derived Nature's Contributions to People and their contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals

“…Each paper in this issue [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] has presented evidence for the contribution of soils to NCP. Table 5 summarizes the potential positive, negative and context-specific contributions of soils to NCP arising from these papers.…”

“…Previous studies have examined the role of soils in contributing to ecosystem services, showing that soils have a decisive and positive contribution to many [1][2][3][4][5]. Other papers in this special issue [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] have considered each ecosystem service in turn, classified according to the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Nature's Contributions to People (NCP, [21,22]), thus providing the most comprehensive treatment to date of the role of soils in delivering NCP. Other studies have examined the role of soils in contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs, [23][24][25][26]), arguing that soils also play a vital role in delivering the SDGs.…”

“…Like Keesstra et al [27], Smith et al [29] first considered the functions provided by the soils and mapped these to NCP, with the delivery of these NCP then mapped on to the delivery of the SDGs. We use a similar approach here, drawing on the extensive analysis presented in the other papers presented in this issue [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20], to examine the role of soils in contributing, positively or negatively, to the UN SDGs.…”

Differential effects of soil conservation practices on arthropods and crop yields

“…Thus, it is not surprising that tillage intensity did not affect natural enemies or herbivores. This highlights the importance of studying mechanisms underlying habitat-biodiversity relationships, including how species' natural histories relate to both food and shelter resources within a habitat (Carvalheiro et al, 2021).…”

The role of soils in delivering Nature's Contributions to People

“…The role of soils in pollination and dispersal of seeds and other propagules is addressed in the review by Carvalheiro et al [25], which focuses specifically on the role of soils in pollination and seed dispersal. The authors note that ongoing environmental changes are affecting physical, chemical and biological soil components.…”