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Currently sampled GSB sites
Global Patterns of Soil Biodiversity: Implications
for Ecosystem Function
Update
We have collected all the soil samples for this project
and are now processing the samples and analyzing the results.
Soils were collected along two global latitudinal transects:
1) Alaska (2 sites), Kansas, Costa Rica, Peru, and Argentina;
2) Sweden (2 sites), Kenya, and South Africa; as well as
from New Zealand and Antarctica. Preliminary data indicates
high levels of soil animal biodiversity, i.e. thousands of
species at most sites.
Project aims
Current knowledge on latitudinal gradients
of taxonomic groups is almost entirely based on aboveground
organisms. Most vascular plant and vertebrate species are
believed to be concentrated in biodiversity “hotspots,” usually
considered of high priority for conservation because of their
high species richness and concentration of endemic species.
Soil ecosystem functions (e.g., nutrient mineralization)
are widely linked to soil biodiversity, yet there is no existing
data showing global patterns of soil biodiversity for most
taxonomic groups, or how these patterns compare with aboveground
biodiversity patterns in the designated global “hotspots” or “coldspots” (areas
of poor plant and animal species diversity). How the pattern
of distribution of soil-dwelling species across large spatial
scales affects ecosystem function is also unknown.
The objectives of the study are to test the hypotheses that:
- global distribution of soil faunal species is related
to body size;
- hotspots of soil biodiversity at both regional and local
scales are associated with high process rates of carbon
and nutrient mineralization and gaseous exchange.
Ed Ayres measuring soil respiration
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The research will specifically address whether smaller faunal
species (<1 mm body size) are ubiquitous in their distribution,
while the majority of larger fauna (>1 mm body size) have
restricted distributions; and whether three ecosystem measures
(soil respiration, carbon mineralization, and nitrogen mineralization)
are related to higher biotic species richness in soils. Thirteen
global sites on a latitudinal gradient will be sampled, allowing
within-continent and cross-continent comparisons of aboveground
hot- and coldspots. Sequence data from a novel, rigorous
molecular technique, combined with morphological and ecosystem
data from soil invertebrates of varying body sizes, will
provide an integrated knowledge base at the fine resolution
of species and will be related to ecosystem function.
Intellectual Merits: The study will confront
a major challenge to scientists by enhancing current knowledge
and an understanding of global patterns of biodiversity and
their
Sampling in Antarctica
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relationship to ecosystem function. By integrating
basic ecological theory and global ecology, the research
will help expand the crucial information base necessary
for the establishment of future research priorities in conservation
and biomonitoring. Such a multidisciplinary approach will
lead to a broader integration of aboveground-belowground
global patterns of biodiversity and biogeochemistry. The
combined molecular and morphological methods will help
answer current questions on endemic and cosmopolitan distributions
and redundancy of soil biota.
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