Belowground Biodiversity Relates Positively to Ecosystem Services of European Forests

Mark R. Bakker; Ivano Brunner; Francis Ashwood; Brynhildur Bjarnadottir; Tom Bolger; Isabella Børja; Monique Carnol; Pavel Cudlin; Lise Dalsgaard; Amandine Erktan; Douglas Godbold; Hojka Kraigher; Ina C. Meier; Luis Merino-Martín; Jurga Motiejūnaitė; Tanja Mrak; Edda S. Oddsdóttir; Ivika Ostonen; Taina L. Pennanen; Ülle Püttsepp; Laura M. Suz; Elena I. Vanguelova; Lars Vesterdal; Nadejda A. Soudzilovskaia

doi:10.3389/ffgc.2019.00006

Belowground Biodiversity Relates Positively to Ecosystem Services of European Forests

Mark R. Bakker, Ivano Brunner, Francis Ashwood, Brynhildur Bjarnadottir, Tom Bolger, Isabella Børja, Monique Carnol, Pavel Cudlin, Lise Dalsgaard, Amandine Erktan, Douglas Godbold, Hojka Kraigher, Ina C. Meier, Luis Merino-Martín, Jurga Motiejūnaitė, Tanja Mrak, Edda S. Oddsdóttir, Ivika Ostonen, Taina L. Pennanen, Ülle PüttseppLaura M. Suz, Elena I. Vanguelova, Lars Vesterdal, Nadejda A. Soudzilovskaia

Forest, Nature and Biomass

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Abstract

Biodiversity of ecosystems is an important driver for the supply of ecosystem services to people. Soils often have a larger biodiversity per unit surface area than what can be observed aboveground. Here, we present what is to our knowledge, the most extensive literature-based key-word assessment of the existing information about the relationships between belowground biodiversity and ecosystem services in European forests. The belowground diversity of plant roots, fungi, prokaryota, soil fauna and protists was evaluated in relation to the supply of Provisioning, Regulating, Cultural and Supporting Services. The soil biota were divided into 14 subgroups and the ecosystem services into 37 separate services. Out of the 518 possible combinations of biotic groups and ecosystem services, no published study was found for 374 combinations (72%). Of the remaining 144 combinations (28%) where relationships were found, the large majority (87%) showed a positive relationship between biodiversity of a belowground biotic group and an associated ecosystem service. However, for the majority of the combinations (102) there were only three or fewer studies. The percentage of cases for which a relationship was detected varied strongly between ecosystem service categories with 23% for Provisioning, 8% for Regulating, 40% for Cultural and 48% for Supporting Services. We conclude that (1) soil biodiversity is generally positively related to ecosystem services in European forests; (2) the links between soil biodiversity and Cultural or Supporting services are better documented than those relating to Provisioning and Regulating services; (3) there is a huge knowledge gap for most possible combinations of soil biota and ecosystem services regarding how a more biodiverse soil biota is associated with a given ecosystem service.Given the drastically increasing societal demand for knowledge of the role of biodiversity in the functioning of ecosystems and the supply of ecosystem services, we strongly encourage the scientific community to conductwell-designed studies incorporating the belowground diversity and the functions and services associated with this diversity.

Original language	English
Article number	6
Journal	Frontiers in Forests and Global Change
Volume	2
Pages (from-to)	1-23
Number of pages	24
ISSN	2624-893X
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2019.00006
Publication status	Published - 19 Mar 2019

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Belowground Biodiversity Relates Positively to Ecosystem Services of European ForestsFinal published version, 3.34 MBLicence: CC BY

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Bakker, M. R., Brunner, I., Ashwood, F., Bjarnadottir, B., Bolger, T., Børja, I., Carnol, M., Cudlin, P., Dalsgaard, L., Erktan, A., Godbold, D., Kraigher, H., Meier, I. C., Merino-Martín, L., Motiejūnaitė, J., Mrak, T., Oddsdóttir, E. S., Ostonen, I., Pennanen, T. L., ... Soudzilovskaia, N. A. (2019). Belowground Biodiversity Relates Positively to Ecosystem Services of European Forests. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, 2, 1-23. Article 6. https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2019.00006

Bakker, MR, Brunner, I, Ashwood, F, Bjarnadottir, B, Bolger, T, Børja, I, Carnol, M, Cudlin, P, Dalsgaard, L, Erktan, A, Godbold, D, Kraigher, H, Meier, IC, Merino-Martín, L, Motiejūnaitė, J, Mrak, T, Oddsdóttir, ES, Ostonen, I, Pennanen, TL, Püttsepp, Ü, Suz, LM, Vanguelova, EI, Vesterdal, L & Soudzilovskaia, NA 2019, 'Belowground Biodiversity Relates Positively to Ecosystem Services of European Forests', Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, vol. 2, 6, pp. 1-23. https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2019.00006

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title = "Belowground Biodiversity Relates Positively to Ecosystem Services of European Forests",

abstract = "Biodiversity of ecosystems is an important driver for the supply of ecosystem services to people. Soils often have a larger biodiversity per unit surface area than what can be observed aboveground. Here, we present what is to our knowledge, the most extensive literature-based key-word assessment of the existing information about the relationships between belowground biodiversity and ecosystem services in European forests. The belowground diversity of plant roots, fungi, prokaryota, soil fauna and protists was evaluated in relation to the supply of Provisioning, Regulating, Cultural and Supporting Services. The soil biota were divided into 14 subgroups and the ecosystem services into 37 separate services. Out of the 518 possible combinations of biotic groups and ecosystem services, no published study was found for 374 combinations (72%). Of the remaining 144 combinations (28%) where relationships were found, the large majority (87%) showed a positive relationship between biodiversity of a belowground biotic group and an associated ecosystem service. However, for the majority of the combinations (102) there were only three or fewer studies. The percentage of cases for which a relationship was detected varied strongly between ecosystem service categories with 23% for Provisioning, 8% for Regulating, 40% for Cultural and 48% for Supporting Services. We conclude that (1) soil biodiversity is generally positively related to ecosystem services in European forests; (2) the links between soil biodiversity and Cultural or Supporting services are better documented than those relating to Provisioning and Regulating services; (3) there is a huge knowledge gap for most possible combinations of soil biota and ecosystem services regarding how a more biodiverse soil biota is associated with a given ecosystem service.Given the drastically increasing societal demand for knowledge of the role of biodiversity in the functioning of ecosystems and the supply of ecosystem services, we strongly encourage the scientific community to conductwell-designed studies incorporating the belowground diversity and the functions and services associated with this diversity.",

author = "Bakker, {Mark R.} and Ivano Brunner and Francis Ashwood and Brynhildur Bjarnadottir and Tom Bolger and Isabella B{\o}rja and Monique Carnol and Pavel Cudlin and Lise Dalsgaard and Amandine Erktan and Douglas Godbold and Hojka Kraigher and Meier, {Ina C.} and Luis Merino-Mart{\'i}n and Jurga Motiejūnaitė and Tanja Mrak and Oddsd{\'o}ttir, {Edda S.} and Ivika Ostonen and Pennanen, {Taina L.} and {\"U}lle P{\"u}ttsepp and Suz, {Laura M.} and Vanguelova, {Elena I.} and Lars Vesterdal and Soudzilovskaia, {Nadejda A.}",

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AU - Bakker, Mark R.

AU - Brunner, Ivano

AU - Ashwood, Francis

AU - Bjarnadottir, Brynhildur

AU - Bolger, Tom

AU - Børja, Isabella

AU - Carnol, Monique

AU - Cudlin, Pavel

AU - Dalsgaard, Lise

AU - Erktan, Amandine

AU - Godbold, Douglas

AU - Kraigher, Hojka

AU - Meier, Ina C.

AU - Merino-Martín, Luis

AU - Motiejūnaitė, Jurga

AU - Mrak, Tanja

AU - Oddsdóttir, Edda S.

AU - Ostonen, Ivika

AU - Pennanen, Taina L.

AU - Püttsepp, Ülle

AU - Suz, Laura M.

AU - Vanguelova, Elena I.

AU - Vesterdal, Lars

AU - Soudzilovskaia, Nadejda A.

PY - 2019/3/19

Y1 - 2019/3/19

N2 - Biodiversity of ecosystems is an important driver for the supply of ecosystem services to people. Soils often have a larger biodiversity per unit surface area than what can be observed aboveground. Here, we present what is to our knowledge, the most extensive literature-based key-word assessment of the existing information about the relationships between belowground biodiversity and ecosystem services in European forests. The belowground diversity of plant roots, fungi, prokaryota, soil fauna and protists was evaluated in relation to the supply of Provisioning, Regulating, Cultural and Supporting Services. The soil biota were divided into 14 subgroups and the ecosystem services into 37 separate services. Out of the 518 possible combinations of biotic groups and ecosystem services, no published study was found for 374 combinations (72%). Of the remaining 144 combinations (28%) where relationships were found, the large majority (87%) showed a positive relationship between biodiversity of a belowground biotic group and an associated ecosystem service. However, for the majority of the combinations (102) there were only three or fewer studies. The percentage of cases for which a relationship was detected varied strongly between ecosystem service categories with 23% for Provisioning, 8% for Regulating, 40% for Cultural and 48% for Supporting Services. We conclude that (1) soil biodiversity is generally positively related to ecosystem services in European forests; (2) the links between soil biodiversity and Cultural or Supporting services are better documented than those relating to Provisioning and Regulating services; (3) there is a huge knowledge gap for most possible combinations of soil biota and ecosystem services regarding how a more biodiverse soil biota is associated with a given ecosystem service.Given the drastically increasing societal demand for knowledge of the role of biodiversity in the functioning of ecosystems and the supply of ecosystem services, we strongly encourage the scientific community to conductwell-designed studies incorporating the belowground diversity and the functions and services associated with this diversity.

AB - Biodiversity of ecosystems is an important driver for the supply of ecosystem services to people. Soils often have a larger biodiversity per unit surface area than what can be observed aboveground. Here, we present what is to our knowledge, the most extensive literature-based key-word assessment of the existing information about the relationships between belowground biodiversity and ecosystem services in European forests. The belowground diversity of plant roots, fungi, prokaryota, soil fauna and protists was evaluated in relation to the supply of Provisioning, Regulating, Cultural and Supporting Services. The soil biota were divided into 14 subgroups and the ecosystem services into 37 separate services. Out of the 518 possible combinations of biotic groups and ecosystem services, no published study was found for 374 combinations (72%). Of the remaining 144 combinations (28%) where relationships were found, the large majority (87%) showed a positive relationship between biodiversity of a belowground biotic group and an associated ecosystem service. However, for the majority of the combinations (102) there were only three or fewer studies. The percentage of cases for which a relationship was detected varied strongly between ecosystem service categories with 23% for Provisioning, 8% for Regulating, 40% for Cultural and 48% for Supporting Services. We conclude that (1) soil biodiversity is generally positively related to ecosystem services in European forests; (2) the links between soil biodiversity and Cultural or Supporting services are better documented than those relating to Provisioning and Regulating services; (3) there is a huge knowledge gap for most possible combinations of soil biota and ecosystem services regarding how a more biodiverse soil biota is associated with a given ecosystem service.Given the drastically increasing societal demand for knowledge of the role of biodiversity in the functioning of ecosystems and the supply of ecosystem services, we strongly encourage the scientific community to conductwell-designed studies incorporating the belowground diversity and the functions and services associated with this diversity.

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