Recommendations for establishing global collaborative networks in soil ecology

Maestre, Fernando T.; Eisenhauer, Nico

doi:10.25674/so91iss3pp73

Cited by 10 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…We only found one study carried out in the polar zone. The same geographical bias was already pointed out by other global studies on soil biodiversity (Phillips et al, 2019;Beaumelle et al, 2021;Guerra et al, 2021), recognized as a problem to be overcome (Ramirez et al, 2018), and it is seen as a reflection of social, political, and economic inequalities among countries (Maestre and Eisenhauer, 2019). Forests, croplands and grasslands were the most represented ecosystems (Figure 2d).…”

Section: Where?geographical Biases Of Soil Phenology Researchsupporting

confidence: 66%

“…Another opportunity to balance research inequalities between the Global North and South is by creating global networks in which scientists share funding and staff (Maestre and Eisenhauer, 2019). Given the high number and/or high quality of both phenological and soil networks worldwide, it does not seem to be necessary to create a new collaborative network focused on soil phenology.…”

Section: Gaps Challenges and Opportunitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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On the phenology of soil organisms: current knowledge and future steps

Asato

Wirth

Eisenhauer

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Phenology is the study of timing of periodic activities in biological life cycles. It describes an inherent component of ecosystem dynamics and shifts in biological activity have been increasingly recognized as an indicator of global change. Although phenology is mainly studied above the ground, major ecosystem processes, such as decomposition, mineralization, and nutrient cycling, are soil-dependent. Therefore, the phenology of soil organisms is a crucial, but understudied, aspect of terrestrial ecosystem functioning. We performed a systematic review of 96 studies, which reported 228 phenological observations, to evaluate the current knowledge of soil microbial and animal phenology. Despite the increasing number of soil phenology reports, most research is still concentrated in a few countries (centered in the Northern Hemisphere) and taxa (microbiota), with significant gaps in the most diverse regions of the globe (i.e., tropics) and important taxa (e.g., ants, termites, and earthworms). Moreover, biotic predictors (e.g., biodiversity and species interactions) have rarely been considered as possible drivers of soil organisms' phenology. We present recommendations for future soil phenology research based on an evaluation of the reported geographical, taxonomic, and methodologic trends that bias current soil phenology research.First, we highlight papers that depict good soil phenology practice, either regarding the research foci, methodological approaches, or results reporting. Then, we discuss the gaps, challenges, and opportunities for future research. Overall, we advocate that focusing both on highly diverse ecosystems and key soil organisms, while testing for the direct and indirect effects of biodiversity loss and climatic stressors, could increase our knowledge of soil functioning and enhance the accuracy of predictions depicting the effects of global change on terrestrial ecosystem functioning as a whole.

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Section: Where?geographical Biases Of Soil Phenology Researchsupporting

confidence: 66%

Section: Gaps Challenges and Opportunitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the phenology of soil organisms: current knowledge and future steps

Asato

Wirth

Eisenhauer

et al. 2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…We only found one study carried out in the polar zone, besides its high seasonality and high importance from the climate change perspective. The same geographical bias was already pointed out by other global studies on soil biodiversity (Beaumelle et al, 2021 ; Guerra et al, 2021 ; Phillips et al, 2019 ), recognized as a problem to be overcome (Ramirez et al, 2018 ), and it is seen as a reflection of social, political, and economic inequalities among countries (Maestre & Eisenhauer, 2019 ).…”

Section: Current Knowledge Of Soil Phenologysupporting

confidence: 54%

“…Another opportunity to balance research inequalities between the Global North and South is by creating global networks in which scientists share funding and staff (Maestre & Eisenhauer, 2019 ). However, given the high number and/or high quality of both phenological and soil networks worldwide, creating a collaborative network focused on soil phenology does not seem to be necessary.…”

Section: Gaps Challenges and Opportunitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the phenology of soil organisms: Current knowledge and future steps

Asato

Wirth

Eisenhauer

et al. 2023

Ecology and Evolution

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“…Increasing the number of participating regions, all with their unique combination of climatic conditions and anthropogenic pressures, would further increase the potential to draw general conclusions about the interacting effects of climate change and roads as anthropogenic disturbance on mountain plant communities (Guo et al, 2018 ). This is particularly important for regions currently under‐represented by the existing MIREN survey sites (Figure 4 ), such as Africa, Eastern Asia, and central America, regions for which long‐term biodiversity data are often lacking (Maestre & Eisenhauer, 2019 ). Despite these spatial gaps, MIREN has already more than doubled in size on its road to becoming a global‐scale network since it was first established in eight regions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Think globally, measure locally: The MIREN standardized protocol for monitoring plant species distributions along elevation gradients

Haider

Lembrechts

McDougall

et al. 2022

Ecology and Evolution

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Climate change and other global change drivers threaten plant diversity in mountains worldwide. A widely documented response to such environmental modifications is for plant species to change their elevational ranges. Range shifts are often idiosyncratic and difficult to generalize, partly due to variation in sampling methods. There is thus a need for a standardized monitoring strategy that can be applied across mountain regions to assess distribution changes and community turnover of native and non‐native plant species over space and time. Here, we present a conceptually intuitive and standardized protocol developed by the Mountain Invasion Research Network (MIREN) to systematically quantify global patterns of native and non‐native species distributions along elevation gradients and shifts arising from interactive effects of climate change and human disturbance. Usually repeated every five years, surveys consist of 20 sample sites located at equal elevation increments along three replicate roads per sampling region. At each site, three plots extend from the side of a mountain road into surrounding natural vegetation. The protocol has been successfully used in 18 regions worldwide from 2007 to present. Analyses of one point in time already generated some salient results, and revealed region‐specific elevational patterns of native plant species richness, but a globally consistent elevational decline in non‐native species richness. Non‐native plants were also more abundant directly adjacent to road edges, suggesting that disturbed roadsides serve as a vector for invasions into mountains. From the upcoming analyses of time series, even more exciting results can be expected, especially about range shifts. Implementing the protocol in more mountain regions globally would help to generate a more complete picture of how global change alters species distributions. This would inform conservation policy in mountain ecosystems, where some conservation policies remain poorly implemented.

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Recommendations for establishing global collaborative networks in soil ecology

Cited by 10 publications

References 62 publications

On the phenology of soil organisms: current knowledge and future steps

On the phenology of soil organisms: current knowledge and future steps

On the phenology of soil organisms: Current knowledge and future steps

Think globally, measure locally: The MIREN standardized protocol for monitoring plant species distributions along elevation gradients

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