Soil biodiversity and soil community composition determine ecosystem multifunctionality

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 111; no. 14; pp. 5266 - 5270
• Main Authors: Wagg, Cameron, Bender, S. Franz, Widmer, Franco, van der Heijden, Marcel G. A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States National Academy of Sciences 08.04.2014; National Acad Sciences
• Subjects: Agricultural soils; Biodiversity; Biodiversity loss; biogeochemical cycles; Biological Sciences; Community composition; community structure; Decomposition; Ecological effects; Ecological function; Ecosystem; Ecosystem services; Ecosystems; Grassland soils; Grasslands; Land use; Nutrient cycles; Nutrient retention; Plant diversity; society; Soil; Soil composition; Soil ecology; Soil fungi; Soil Microbiology; Soil microorganisms; Soil nematodes; Soil treatment; Soils; Sustainability; ecology; soil degradation; microbiome; global change; symbiosis
• ISSN: 0027-8424; 1091-6490; 1091-6490
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1320054111

Biodiversity loss has become a global concern as evidence accumulates that it will negatively affect ecosystem services on which society depends. So far, most studies have focused on the ecological consequences of above-ground biodiversity loss; yet a large part of Earth’s biodiversity is literally hidden below ground. Whether reductions of biodiversity in soil communities below ground have consequences for the overall performance of an ecosystem remains unresolved. It is important to investigate this in view of recent observations that soil biodiversity is declining and that soil communities are changing upon land use intensification. We established soil communities differing in composition and diversity and tested their impact on eight ecosystem functions in model grassland communities. We show that soil biodiversity loss and simplification of soil community composition impair multiple ecosystem functions, including plant diversity, decomposition, nutrient retention, and nutrient cycling. The average response of all measured ecosystem functions (ecosystem multifunctionality) exhibited a strong positive linear relationship to indicators of soil biodiversity, suggesting that soil community composition is a key factor in regulating ecosystem functioning. Our results indicate that changes in soil communities and the loss of soil biodiversity threaten ecosystem multifunctionality and sustainability.