The impact of multiple global change drivers on soil biodiversity

Local biodiversity is being impacted by multiple drivers of global change, including land use change, climate change, and pollution.

Yet, our understanding of how these multiple drivers interact to cause shifts in biodiversity is limited, and the data that is used in large-scale synthesis analyses are often heavily biased towards taxa such as plants, birds and some marine organisms.

Although soils harbour extremely high levels of diversity and this biodiversity supports critical ecosystem functions and services, soil biodiversity is very rarely considered in large-scale syntheses examining biodiversity change. As a result, it is still regarded as a ‘black box’ in the context of global change impacts.

Therefore, the objectives of the GloSoilBio project are to investigate how global change drivers interact to impact soil biodiversity and understand how different global change drivers are affecting diversity change over time.

The results from this project should help to inform management of global change impacts on soil biodiversity and to address EU- and global-level policy goals relating to the sustainability of life on land.