Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32747621›Full record

ArticleNature communications2020

Blind spots in global soil biodiversity and ecosystem function research.

Carlos A Guerra, Anna Heintz-Buschart, Johannes Sikorski, Antonis Chatzinotas, Nathaly Guerrero-Ramírez, Simone Cesarz, Léa Beaumelle, Matthias C Rillig, Fernando T Maestre, Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo and 16 more

Abstract readMulticenter Study
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 83 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
83citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

83 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Integrating pH into the metabolic theory of ecology to predict bacterial diversity in soil.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023
    Pooled it
  3. Towards evidence-based conservation of subterranean ecosystems.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2022
    Pooled it
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  19. Biodiversity in mountain soils above the treeline.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2025
    Review
  20. Article

23 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

26 authors.

Carlos A GuerraGerman Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany. carlos.guerra@idiv.de.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4917-2105
Anna Heintz-BuschartGerman Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9780-1933
Johannes SikorskiLeibniz-Institut DSMZ-Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen, Braunschweig, Germany.
Antonis ChatzinotasGerman Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0387-9802
Nathaly Guerrero-RamírezGerman Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
Simone CesarzGerman Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
Léa BeaumelleGerman Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7836-8767
Matthias C RilligFreie Universität Berlin, Institut für Biologie, Altensteinstr. 6, 14195, Berlin, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3541-7853
Fernando T MaestreDepartamento de Biología y Geología, Física y Química Inorgánica, Escuela Superior de Ciencias Experimentales y Tecnología, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Calle Tulipán Sin Número, Móstoles, 28933, Spain.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7434-4856
Manuel Delgado-BaquerizoDepartamento de Biología y Geología, Física y Química Inorgánica, Escuela Superior de Ciencias Experimentales y Tecnología, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Calle Tulipán Sin Número, Móstoles, 28933, Spain.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6499-576X
François BuscotGerman Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2364-0006
Jörg OvermannLeibniz-Institut DSMZ-Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen, Braunschweig, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3909-7201
Guillaume PatoineGerman Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
Helen R P PhillipsGerman Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7435-5934
Marten WinterGerman Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9593-7300
Tesfaye WubetGerman Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8572-4486
Kirsten KüselGerman Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5396-0975
Richard D BardgettSchool of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PT, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5131-0127
Erin K CameronDepartment of Environmental Science, Saint Mary's University, Halifax, NS, Canada.
Don CowanCentre for Microbial Ecology and Genomics, Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
Tine GrebencSlovenian Forestry Institute, Večna pot 2, SI-1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4035-8587
César MarínInstituto de Ciencias Agronómicas y Veterinarias, Universidad de O'Higgins, Rancagua, Chile.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2529-8929
Alberto OrgiazziEuropean Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Ispra, Italy.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8390-6654
Brajesh K SinghHawkesbury Institute for the environment, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4413-4185
Diana H WallSchool of Global Environmental Sustainability and Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80523-1036, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9466-5235
Nico EisenhauerGerman Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0371-6720

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Soils harbor a substantial fraction of the world's biodiversity, contributing to many crucial ecosystem functions. It is thus essential to identify general macroecological patterns related to the distribution and functioning of soil organisms to support their conservation and consideration by governance. These macroecological analyses need to represent the diversity of environmental conditions that can be found worldwide. Here we identify and characterize existing environmental gaps in soil taxa and ecosystem functioning data across soil macroecological studies and 17,186 sampling sites across the globe. These data gaps include important spatial, environmental, taxonomic, and functional gaps, and an almost complete absence of temporally explicit data. We also identify the limitations of soil macroecological studies to explore general patterns in soil biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships, with only 0.3% of all sampling sites having both information about biodiversity and function, although with different taxonomic groups and functions at each site. Based on this information, we provide clear priorities to support and expand soil macroecological research.

Indexed as

BiodiversityEcosystemSoil MicrobiologyAnimalsBacteriaBiomassClimateFungiGeographyHydrogen-Ion ConcentrationNematodaOligochaetaSoilTemperatureSoil

Identifiers

PMID32747621
PMCPMC7400591

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.