Increasing the number of stressors reduces soil ecosystem services worldwide

Matthias C. Rillig; Marcel G. A. van der Heijden; Miguel Berdugo; Yu-Rong Liu; Judith Riedo; Carlos Sanz-Lazaro; Eduardo Moreno-Jiménez; Ferran Romero; Leho Tedersoo; Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo

doi:10.1038/s41558-023-01627-2

Increasing the number of stressors reduces soil ecosystem services worldwide

Matthias C. Rillig, Marcel G. A. van der Heijden, Miguel Berdugo, Yu-Rong Liu, Judith Riedo, Carlos Sanz-Lazaro, Eduardo Moreno-Jiménez, Ferran Romero, Leho Tedersoo, Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo

Western Sydney University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

87 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Increasing the number of environmental stressors could decrease ecosystem functioning in soils. Yet this relationship has not been globally assessed outside laboratory experiments. Here, using two independent global standardized field surveys, and a range of natural and human factors, we test the relationship between the number of environmental stressors exceeding different critical thresholds and the maintenance of multiple ecosystem services across biomes. Our analysis shows that having multiple stressors, from medium levels (>50%), negatively and significantly correlates with impacts on ecosystem services and that having multiple stressors crossing a high-level critical threshold (over 75% of maximum observed levels) reduces soil biodiversity and functioning globally. The number of environmental stressors exceeding the >75% threshold was consistently seen as an important predictor of multiple ecosystem services, therefore improving prediction of ecosystem functioning. Our findings highlight the need to reduce the dimensionality of the human footprint on ecosystems to conserve biodiversity and function.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	478-483
Number of pages	6
Journal	Nature Climate Change
Volume	13
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01627-2
Publication status	Published - May 2023

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abstract = "Increasing the number of environmental stressors could decrease ecosystem functioning in soils. Yet this relationship has not been globally assessed outside laboratory experiments. Here, using two independent global standardized field surveys, and a range of natural and human factors, we test the relationship between the number of environmental stressors exceeding different critical thresholds and the maintenance of multiple ecosystem services across biomes. Our analysis shows that having multiple stressors, from medium levels (>50%), negatively and significantly correlates with impacts on ecosystem services and that having multiple stressors crossing a high-level critical threshold (over 75% of maximum observed levels) reduces soil biodiversity and functioning globally. The number of environmental stressors exceeding the >75% threshold was consistently seen as an important predictor of multiple ecosystem services, therefore improving prediction of ecosystem functioning. Our findings highlight the need to reduce the dimensionality of the human footprint on ecosystems to conserve biodiversity and function.",

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AU - Rillig, Matthias C.

AU - van der Heijden, Marcel G. A.

AU - Berdugo, Miguel

AU - Liu, Yu-Rong

AU - Riedo, Judith

AU - Sanz-Lazaro, Carlos

AU - Moreno-Jiménez, Eduardo

AU - Romero, Ferran

AU - Tedersoo, Leho

AU - Delgado-Baquerizo, Manuel

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AB - Increasing the number of environmental stressors could decrease ecosystem functioning in soils. Yet this relationship has not been globally assessed outside laboratory experiments. Here, using two independent global standardized field surveys, and a range of natural and human factors, we test the relationship between the number of environmental stressors exceeding different critical thresholds and the maintenance of multiple ecosystem services across biomes. Our analysis shows that having multiple stressors, from medium levels (>50%), negatively and significantly correlates with impacts on ecosystem services and that having multiple stressors crossing a high-level critical threshold (over 75% of maximum observed levels) reduces soil biodiversity and functioning globally. The number of environmental stressors exceeding the >75% threshold was consistently seen as an important predictor of multiple ecosystem services, therefore improving prediction of ecosystem functioning. Our findings highlight the need to reduce the dimensionality of the human footprint on ecosystems to conserve biodiversity and function.

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DO - 10.1038/s41558-023-01627-2

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JO - Nature Climate Change

JF - Nature Climate Change

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Increasing the number of stressors reduces soil ecosystem services worldwide

Abstract

Bibliographical note

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