Dataset Information

Soil microbial diversity-biomass relationships are driven by soil carbon content across global biomes.

ABSTRACT: The relationship between biodiversity and biomass has been a long standing debate in ecology. Soil biodiversity and biomass are essential drivers of ecosystem functions. However, unlike plant communities, little is known about how the diversity and biomass of soil microbial communities are interlinked across globally distributed biomes, and how variations in this relationship influence ecosystem function. To fill this knowledge gap, we conducted a field survey across global biomes, with contrasting vegetation and climate types. We show that soil carbon (C) content is associated to the microbial diversity-biomass relationship and ratio in soils across global biomes. This ratio provides an integrative index to identify those locations on Earth wherein diversity is much higher compared with biomass and vice versa. The soil microbial diversity-to-biomass ratio peaks in arid environments with low C content, and is very low in C-rich cold environments. Our study further advances that the reductions in soil C content associated with land use intensification and climate change could cause dramatic shifts in the microbial diversity-biomass ratio, with potential consequences for broad soil processes.

SUBMITTER: Bastida F

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8245509 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Soil microbial diversity-biomass relationships are driven by soil carbon content across global biomes.

Bastida Felipe F Eldridge David J DJ García Carlos C Kenny Png G G Bardgett Richard D RD Delgado-Baquerizo Manuel M

The ISME journal 20210209 7

The relationship between biodiversity and biomass has been a long standing debate in ecology. Soil biodiversity and biomass are essential drivers of ecosystem functions. However, unlike plant communities, little is known about how the diversity and biomass of soil microbial communities are interlinked across globally distributed biomes, and how variations in this relationship influence ecosystem function. To fill this knowledge gap, we conducted a field survey across global biomes, with contrast ...[more]

PMID: 33564112

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Dataset Information

Soil microbial diversity-biomass relationships are driven by soil carbon content across global biomes.

Publications

Soil microbial diversity-biomass relationships are driven by soil carbon content across global biomes.

Similar Datasets

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