ReviewProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2023
Enumerating soil biodiversity.
Review in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 125 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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.
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Who cites it
125 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Crop rotation differentially increases soil bacterial and fungal diversities in global croplands: a meta-analysis.Nature communications · 2025Pooled it
- Geographic, Taxonomic and Metric Gaps in Biodiversity Research Limit Evidence-Based Conservation in Agricultural Landscapes: An Umbrella Review.Ecology letters · 2025Pooled it
- Impact of pesticides on soil health: identification of key soil microbial indicators for ecotoxicological assessment strategies through meta-analysis.FEMS microbiology ecology · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Meta-analysis reveals the effects of microbial inoculants on the biomass and diversity of soil microbial communities.Nature ecology & evolution · 2024Pooled it
- Soil-derived microbiota induces T regulatory cells and protect against mouse colitis, metabolic disease, and sepsis.Gut microbes · 2026Article
- Operationalizing soil persistence in soil and ecosystem ecology.The New phytologist · 2026Article
- Perseus: lineage-aware refinement of Kraken2 taxonomic classification for long read metagenomes.Bioinformatics (Oxford, England) · 2026Article
- Distribution Patterns and Community Assembly of Soil Nematodes Along Elevation Gradients in a Dry-Hot Valley.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Article
- Tree diversity and mycorrhizal type independently shape multitrophic biodiversity, with stronger effects belowground than aboveground.Nature ecology & evolution · 2026Article
- Assembly processes and ecological network patterns of multitrophic soil mite communities in karst primary forests.Experimental & applied acarology · 2026Article
- Genomic characteristics and geographical distribution of uncultivated soil prokaryotes.BMC genomics · 2026Article
- Interaction Mechanisms Among Soil Environmental Factors, Microbial Communities, and Nitrogen-Cycling Functional Genes in Cool-Climate Maize Fields.Microorganisms · 2026Article
- Breeding for beneficial microbial associations.Nature communications · 2026Review
- Soil Microbiome Predator Diversity Outperforms Nitrogen Addition in Boosting Plant Biomass via Bacterial Community Shifts.Global change biology · 2026Article
- Effects of Long-Term Thinning on Soil Nematode Communities inEcology and evolution · 2026Article
- Soil Biodiversity Supports Agroecosystem Services Under Multiple Global Change Factors.Global change biology · 2026Article
- The Hidden Costs of Soil Degradation: Threats to Global Food Security and Planetary Health.ACS environmental Au · 2026Review
- Article
65 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Soil is an immense habitat for diverse organisms across the tree of life, but just how many organisms live in soil is surprisingly unknown. Previous efforts to enumerate soil biodiversity consider only certain types of organisms (e.g., animals) or report values for diverse groups without partitioning species that live in soil versus other habitats. Here, we reviewed the biodiversity literature to show that soil is likely home to 59 ± 15% of the species on Earth. We therefore estimate an approximately two times greater soil biodiversity than previous estimates, and we include representatives from the simplest (microbial) to most complex (mammals) organisms. Enchytraeidae have the greatest percentage of species in soil (98.6%), followed by fungi (90%), Plantae (85.5%), and Isoptera (84.2%). Our results demonstrate that soil is the most biodiverse singular habitat. By using this estimate of soil biodiversity, we can more accurately and quantitatively advocate for soil organismal conservation and restoration as a central goal of the Anthropocene.
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Registered trials
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.