Browsing by Author "Bardgett, Richard D."

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Changes in belowground biodiversity during ecosystem development
    Delgado-Baquerizo, Manuel; Bardgett, Richard D.; Vitousek, Peter M.; Maestre, Fernando T.; Williams, Mark A.; Eldridge, David J.; Lambers, Hans; Neuhauser, Sigrid; Gallardo, Antonio; Garcia-Velazquez, Laura; Sala, Osvaldo E.; Abades, Sebastian R.; Alfaro, Fernando D.; Berhe, Asmeret Asefaw; Bowker, Matthew A.; Currier, Courtney M.; Cutler, Nick A.; Hart, Stephen C.; Hayes, Patrick E.; Hseu, Zeng-Yei; Kirchmair, Martin; Pena-Ramirez, Victor M.; Perez, Cecilia A.; Reed, Sasha C.; Santos, Fernanda; Siebe, Christina; Sullivan, Benjamin W.; Weber-Grullon, Luis; Fierer, Noah (2019-04-02)
    Belowground organisms play critical roles in maintaining multiple ecosystem processes, including plant productivity, decomposition, and nutrient cycling. Despite their importance, however, we have a limited understanding of how and why belowground biodiversity (bacteria, fungi, protists, and invertebrates) may change as soils develop over centuries to millennia (pedogenesis). Moreover, it is unclear whether belowground biodiversity changes during pedogenesis are similar to the patterns observed for aboveground plant diversity. Here we evaluated the roles of resource availability, nutrient stoichiometry, and soil abiotic factors in driving belowground biodiversity across 16 soil chronosequences (from centuries to millennia) spanning a wide range of globally distributed ecosystem types. Changes in belowground biodiversity during pedogenesis followed two main patterns. In lower-productivity ecosystems (i.e., drier and colder), increases in belowground biodiversity tracked increases in plant cover. In more productive ecosystems (i.e., wetter and warmer), increased acidification during pedogenesis was associated with declines in belowground biodiversity. Changes in the diversity of bacteria, fungi, protists, and invertebrates with pedogenesis were strongly and positively correlated worldwide, highlighting that belowground biodiversity shares similar ecological drivers as soils and ecosystems develop. In general, temporal changes in aboveground plant diversity and belowground biodiversity were not correlated, challenging the common perception that belowground biodiversity should follow similar patterns to those of plant diversity during ecosystem development. Taken together, our findings provide evidence that ecological patterns in belowground biodiversity are predictable across major globally distributed ecosystem types and suggest that shifts in plant cover and soil acidification during ecosystem development are associated with changes in belowground biodiversity over centuries to millennia.
  • Thumbnail Image
    The influence of soil age on ecosystem structure and function across biomes
    Delgado-Baquerizo, Manuel; Reich, Peter B.; Bardgett, Richard D.; Eldridge, David J.; Lambers, Hans; Wardle, David A.; Reed, Sasha C.; Plaza, Cesar; Png, G. Kenny; Neuhauser, Sigrid; Berhe, Asmeret Asefaw; Hart, Stephen C.; Hu, Hang-Wei; He, Ji-Zheng; Bastida, Felipe; Abades, Sebastian R.; Alfaro, Fernando D.; Cutler, Nick A.; Gallardo, Antonio; Garcia-Velazquez, Laura; Hayes, Patrick E.; Hseu, Zeng-Yei; Perez, Cecilia A.; Santos, Fernanda; Siebe, Christina; Trivedi, Pankaj; Sullivan, Benjamin W.; Weber-Grullon, Luis; Williams, Mark A.; Fierer, Noah (2020-09-18)
    The importance of soil age as an ecosystem driver across biomes remains largely unresolved. By combining a cross-biome global field survey, including data for 32 soil, plant, and microbial properties in 16 soil chronosequences, with a global meta-analysis, we show that soil age is a significant ecosystem driver, but only accounts for a relatively small proportion of the cross-biome variation in multiple ecosystem properties. Parent material, climate, vegetation and topography predict, collectively, 24 times more variation in ecosystem properties than soil age alone. Soil age is an important local-scale ecosystem driver; however, environmental context, rather than soil age, determines the rates and trajectories of ecosystem development in structure and function across biomes. Our work provides insights into the natural history of terrestrial ecosystems. We propose that, regardless of soil age, changes in the environmental context, such as those associated with global climatic and land-use changes, will have important long-term impacts on the structure and function of terrestrial ecosystems across biomes. Soil age is thought to be an important driver of ecosystem development. Here, the authors perform a global survey of soil chronosequences and meta-analysis to show that, contrary to expectations, soil age is a relatively minor ecosystem driver at the biome scale once other drivers such as parent material, climate, and vegetation type are accounted for.