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      Soil biodiversity and soil community composition determine ecosystem multifunctionality

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      Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
      Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

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          Abstract

          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.

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          Author and article information

          Journal
          Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
          Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
          Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
          0027-8424
          1091-6490
          April 08 2014
          April 08 2014
          March 17 2014
          April 08 2014
          : 111
          : 14
          : 5266-5270
          Article
          10.1073/pnas.1320054111
          3986181
          24639507
          ea761516-0b31-49ff-9846-9e283d4a644f
          © 2014
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