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Biodiversity and ecosystem function in soil

  1. A. H. FITTER1,*,
  2. C. A. GILLIGAN2,
  3. K. HOLLINGWORTH1,
  4. A. KLECZKOWSKI2,
  5. R. M. TWYMAN1,
  6. J. W. PITCHFORD1,
  7. THE MEMBERS OF THE NERC SOIL BIODIVERSITY PROGRAMME1

Article first published online: 6 MAY 2005

DOI: 10.1111/j.0269-8463.2005.00969.x

Issue

Functional Ecology

Functional Ecology

Volume 19, Issue 3, pages 369–377, June 2005

Additional Information

How to Cite

FITTER, A. H., GILLIGAN, C. A., HOLLINGWORTH, K., KLECZKOWSKI, A., TWYMAN, R. M., PITCHFORD, J. W. and THE MEMBERS OF THE NERC SOIL BIODIVERSITY PROGRAMME (2005), Biodiversity and ecosystem function in soil. Functional Ecology, 19: 369–377. doi: 10.1111/j.0269-8463.2005.00969.x

Author Information

  1. 1

    Department of Biology, University of York, York YO10 5YW

  2. 2

    Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EA, UK

* †Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: ahf1@york.ac.uk

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 24 JUN 2005
  2. Article first published online: 6 MAY 2005
  3. Received 24 August 2004; revised 17 December 2004; accepted 11 January 2005

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Keywords:

  • bacteria;
  • 13C;
  • carbon flux;
  • fungi;
  • models;
  • resilience;
  • soil fauna;
  • Sourhope

Summary

  • 1
    Soils are one of the last great frontiers for biodiversity research and are home to an extraordinary range of microbial and animal groups. Biological activities in soils drive many of the key ecosystem processes that govern the global system, especially in the cycling of elements such as carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus.
  • 2
    We cannot currently make firm statements about the scale of biodiversity in soils, or about the roles played by soil organisms in the transformations of organic materials that underlie those cycles. The recent UK Soil Biodiversity Programme (SBP) has brought a unique concentration of researchers to bear on a single soil in Scotland, and has generated a large amount of data concerning biodiversity, carbon flux and resilience in the soil ecosystem.
  • 3
    One of the key discoveries of the SBP was the extreme diversity of small organisms: researchers in the programme identified over 100 species of bacteria, 350 protozoa, 140 nematodes and 24 distinct types of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. Statistical analysis of these results suggests a much greater ‘hidden diversity’. In contrast, there was no unusual richness in other organisms, such as higher fungi, mites, collembola and annelids.
  • 4
    Stable-isotope (13C) technology was used to measure carbon fluxes and map the path of carbon through the food web. A novel finding was the rapidity with which carbon moves through the soil biota, revealing an extraordinarily dynamic soil ecosystem.
  • 5
    The combination of taxonomic diversity and rapid carbon flux makes the soil ecosystem highly resistant to perturbation through either changing soil structure or removing selected groups of organisms.
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