Soil water regulation

Quantified functional responses for earthworm ecological groups and key species for water infiltration rate;

Key data applied in ecohydrological model identifying risks for flooding and crop wilting in relation to land use and precipitation climate.

•Spurgeon, D.J.; Keith, A.M.; Schmidt, O.; Lammertsma, D.R.; Faber, J.H. (2013). Land-Use and Land-Management Change: Relationships with Earthworm and Fungi Communities and Soil Structural Properties. BMC Ecology 13: 13- 

•Faber J.H., Pérès G., de Groot A., Krogh P.H., Suhadolc M., Römbke, J., Jänsch S.,  Schmelz, R., Keith A.K., Schmidt, O., Andriuzzi W., Chabbi A., 2014. Impact of agricultural extensification on the relation between soil biodiversity and ecosystem services (soil structure maintenance, water regulation). Global soil Biodiversity Initiative (Dijon, France) Submitted for oral communication.

•Pérès G., Faber J.H., de Groot A., Krogh P.H., et al. 2014. Impact of agricultural extensification on the relationships between earthworm biodiversity, macroporosity and water regulation. In prep.

Soil structure regulation

Depth distribution of soil porosity mediation and macropore formation by earthworms in relation to land use

•Faber J.H., Pérès G., de Groot A., Krogh P.H., Suhadolc M., Römbke, J., Jänsch S.,  Schmelz, R., Keith A.K., Schmidt, O., Andriuzzi W., Chabbi A., 2014. Impact of agricultural extensification on the relation between soil biodiversity and ecosystem services (soil structure maintenance, water regulation). Global soil Biodiversity Initiative (Dijon, France) Submitted for oral communication.

•Pérès G., Faber J.H., de Groot A., Krogh P.H., et al. 2014. Impact of agricultural extensification on the relationships between earthworm biodiversity, macroporosity and water regulation. In prep.

Nutrient regulation

Functional redundancy exists in microbial communities, but beyond a certain degree of erosion in diversity C-mineralisation is reduced. Microbial diversity and activity is optimal at intermediate levels of land use intensity.

•Tardy et al. (in prep).

Anecic earthworms create biochemical hotspots in soil through their burrowing and feeding activities; distinct species may not be functionally redundant.

The drillosphere is wider than thought before.

•Andriuzzi W.S., Th. Bolger, O. Schmidt (2013) The drilosphere concept: Fine-scale incorporation of surface residue-derived N and C around natural Lumbricus terrestris burrows. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 64: 136-138

•Andriuzzi WS, O Schmidt, L Brussaard, JH Faber, T Bolger. Functional diversity in earthworms affects ure, C Rumpel, O Schmidt. Two similar earthworm species produce dissimilar soil biochemical hotspots in temperate grassland. submitted for review

Soil community networks may become tightened after land abandonment, resulting in more efficiently captured nutrients.

•Morriën, Hannula, Snoek et al. (in prep).

Microbial communities at high altitudes show decreased fungal to bacterial ratio’s, decreased richness, and decreased diversity of carbon source utilization but increased potential to metabolize recalcitrant carbohydrates.

•Meng Xu, Xiaoliang Li, Xiaobu Cai, Jingping Gai, Xiaolin Li, Peter Christie, Junling Zhang (subm.) Soil microbial functioning in a montane ecosystem. European J Soil Biology

Resistance to drought in ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms in arable soil is higher in archaea than in bacteria, especially under minimum tillage.

•Abstract for First Global Soil Biodiversity Conference (Assessing soil biodiversity and its role for ecosystem services), 2-5 December 2014, Dijon, France

Climate regulation

The denitrification process has limited functional redundancy in the soil microbial community.

No straightforward relationship between functional operating range and level of biodiversity, complex patterns vary with community composition and environmental conditions: diversity associated with broadest functional operating range and highest process rates.

Abundance and phylogenetic diversity of previously unaccounted N₂O reducing microorganisms is critical for soil N₂O sink capacity

•Jones C.M., Spor A., Brennan F.P, Breuil M.C., Bru D., Lemanceau P ., Griffiths B., Hallin S., Philippot L. 2014. Recently identified microbial guild mediates soil N2O sink capacity. Nature Climate Change. Online First. 10.1038/nclimate2301

•                           Philippot L., Spor A., Henault C., Bru D., Bizouard F., Jones C.M.  Sarr A. Maron P-A. 2013. ISME J. Loss in microbial diversity affects nitrogen-cycling in soil. 7: 1609–1619

•JONES C.M., GRAF D, BRU D., PHILIPPOT L., HALLIN S. 2013. The unaccounted yet abundant nitrous oxide reducing microbial community - a potential nitrous oxide sink. The ISME J. J 7: 417-426

•HALLIN S.,WELSH A., STENSTRÖM J., HALLET S., ENWALL K., BRU D., PHILIPPOT L. 2012. Microbial biodiversity affects soil functional operating range. PlosOne. 7(12): e51962.

Aboveground -belowground community interactions

In grasslands, the bacterial community is more correlated to soil abiotic factors, such as pH, CEC, and nutrient content, while the fungal community is most strongly related to plant traits, particularly those linked to resource quality.

•De Vries, F., Manning, P., Tallowin, J., Mortimer, S., Pilgrim, E., Harrison, K., Hobbs, P., Quirk, H., Shipley, B., Cornelissen, J., Kattge, J. & Bardgett, R (2012a). Abiotic drivers and plant traits explain landscape-scale patterns in soil microbial communities. Ecology Letters, 15(11), 1230-1239.

•De Vries, F., Bloem, J., Quirk, H., Stevens, C., Bol, R. & Bardgett, R (2012b). Extensive Management Promotes Plant and Microbial Nitrogen Retention in Temperate Grassland. Plos One, 7(12), DOI: e51201 10.1371/journal.pone.0051201

•De Vries, F.T., Liiri. M., Bjørnlund, L., Bowker, M.A., Christensen, S., Setälä, H.M. & Bardgett, R.D. (2012c). Land use alters the resistance and resilience of soil food webs to drought. Nature Climate Change, 2(April), 276-280.

•Gibson D. (2008) Grasses and Grassland Ecology, Oxford University Press.

•Griffiths R.I., Thomson B.C., James P., Bell T., Bailey M. & Whiteley A.S. (2011). The bacterial biogeography of British soils. Environmental Microbiology, 13, 1642-1654.

•Grigulis, K., S. Lavorel, U. Krainer, N. Legay, C. Baxendale, M. Dumont, E. Kastl, C. Arnoldi, R. D. Bardgett, F. Poly, T. Pommier, M. Schloter, U. Tappeiner, M. Bahn, J.-C. Clément. (2013). Relative contributions of plant traits and soil microbial properties to mountain grassland ecosystem services. Journal of Ecology, 101, 47-57.

•Legay, N., Baxendale, C., Gigulis, K., Krainer, U., Kastl, E. Schloter. M., Bardgett, R.D., Arnoldi, C., Bahn, M., Dumont, M., Poly, F., Pommier, T, Clement, J.C., and Lavorel, S. (2014). Contribution of above- and below-ground plant traits to the structure and function of grassland soil microbial communities. Ann Bot, DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcu169

•Bardgett and Van der Putten, 2014 Nature (in press)

•Philippot L., Raaijmakers J.M., Lemanceau P., Van der Putten W.H. 2013. Going back to the roots: ecology of the rhizosphere microbiome. Nature Reviews Microbiology 11:789-799

•Bardgett, R D., Manning, P., Morriën, E., De Vries, FT (2013) Hierarchical responses of plant–soil interactions to climate change: consequences for the global carbon cycle. Journal of Ecology 101: 1365-2745

Disease suppression

Metagenomic identification of suppressive microorganisms revealed different rhizosphere fungal and bacterial groups responsible for disease suppression in Fusarium wilt and Rhizoctonia diseases.

Suppressive soils show structural shifts in taxonomic composition among rhizosphere fungal and bacterial communities.

•Philippot L., Raaijmakers J.M., Lemanceau P., Van der Putten W.H. 2013. Going back to the roots: ecology of the rhizosphere microbiome. Nature Reviews Microbiology 11:789-799

•Siegel K., Chapelle E., Edel-Hermann V., Jack A., Raaijmakers J., Lemanceau P., Steinberg C. 2014 (in press). Are soils suppressive to fungal diseases the sources of biocontrol agents? IOBC Bulletin.

•Siegel K., Daguerre Y., Edel-Hermann V., Steinberg C. Fungal proteins and genes associated with biocontrol mechanisms of soil-borne pathogens: a review. Submitted for publication in Fungal Biology Reviews

•Chapelle E., Mendes R., Bakker P.A.H.M., Raaijmakers J.M. 2014. Fungal invasion of the rhizosphere microbiome. In preparation.

•Siegel et al. Comparative metagenomic of fungal communities of soils suppressive to Fusarium wilt and Rhizoctonia solani damping off. In preparation.

Some Protists feed on plant pathogenic fungi

•Geisen S, Hünninghaus M, Dumack K, Koller R, Urich T, Bonkowski M (in prep). Protists as mycophages:  a neglected, but important link in soil food webs.

•Geisen S, Rosengarten J, Koller R, Mulder C, Urich T, Bonkowski M (in prep). Dealing with large size prey like piranhas: multitasking soil amoebae attacking nematodes.

Trade-offs between ES

•significant  relation between land management practices and soil ecosystem services delivered by biodiversity.

• significant positive associations between regulating and supporting services, suggesting potential synergy between these ES.

• significant trade-off between provisioning services and AMF biomass due to mineral nitrogen additions.

•There were higher number and greater abundance of ecosystem services under land management with grass ley and FYM in the rotation.

•There was more SOC due to manure application and ley in the rotation, which increased root biomass and carbon deposition from the grass.

•Albizua A, A Williams, K Hedlund, U Pascual (submitted) Crop rotation promotes win-win effects among ecosystem services. Applied Soil Ecology