Sánchez-Cueto Pablo, Hartmann Martin, García-Velázquez Laura, Gozalo Beatriz, Ochoa Victoria, Bongiorno Giulia, Goede Ron, Zoka Melpomeni, Stathopoulos Nikolaos, Kontoes Charalampos, Martinez Luis Daniel Olivares, Mataix-Solera Jorge, García-Orenes Fuensanta, Van De Sande Tomas, Hestbjerg Helle, Alsina Ina, Tóth Zoltán, Barral María Paula, Sirimarco Ximena, Dongmo Joseph Blaise, Nguefack Julienne, Tangkoonboribun Rochana, Clocchiatti Anna, Ghemis Radu, Bosch Montse, Parras-Moltó Marcos, Yacoub-Lopez Cristina, Soliveres Santiago, Lladó Salvado
Leitat Technological Center, Applied Microbiology and Biotechnologies, Barcelona, Spain.
PhD in Biotechnology, Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Science, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
Glob Chang Biol. 2025 Sep;31(9):e70486. doi: 10.1111/gcb.70486.
Unsustainable soil management, climate change, and land degradation jeopardize soil biodiversity and soil-mediated ecosystem functions. Although the transition from conventional to organic agriculture has been proposed as a potential solution to alleviate these pressures, there is limited evidence of its effectiveness in enhancing belowground biodiversity across different biogeographical regions, climates, and land degradation levels. In this study, we holistically assessed the status of soil biodiversity, from microorganisms to meso- and macrofauna, in agroecosystems distributed across four continents. We identified the primary environmental community composition drivers and assessed the effects of the transition from conventional to organic management (no chemical inputs) on soil ecology. Our findings highlight the mean temperature and precipitation of the warmest and coldest quarters of the year, aridity, pH, and soil texture as the primary drivers of the different soil biodiversity components. Overall, organic farming has a significant but small impact on soil biodiversity compared to the other community drivers. On top of that, the results demonstrate the importance of a regional-specific context for a future generalized transition towards organic soil management. Specifically, under the most arid conditions in our study, organic management showed potential to buffer biodiversity loss in highly degraded soils, with a significant increase in diversity for prokaryotes and protists compared to conventionally managed soils. Therefore, the combination of a global and, simultaneously, regional-specific approach supports the hypothesis that a shift towards organic agriculture would maximize its beneficial impact on belowground diversity in highly degraded soils under arid conditions over the coming years, being a crucial tool to increase resilience and adaptation to global change for agriculture.
不可持续的土壤管理、气候变化和土地退化危及土壤生物多样性及土壤介导的生态系统功能。尽管从传统农业向有机农业的转变被提议作为缓解这些压力的潜在解决方案，但在不同生物地理区域、气候和土地退化水平下，其增强地下生物多样性有效性的证据有限。在本研究中，我们全面评估了分布在四大洲的农业生态系统中从微生物到中型和大型动物的土壤生物多样性状况。我们确定了主要的环境群落组成驱动因素，并评估了从传统管理向有机管理（无化学投入）转变对土壤生态的影响。我们的研究结果表明，一年中最暖季和最冷季的平均温度和降水量、干旱度、pH值和土壤质地是不同土壤生物多样性组成部分的主要驱动因素。总体而言，与其他群落驱动因素相比，有机农业对土壤生物多样性有显著但较小的影响。除此之外，结果表明区域特定背景对于未来向有机土壤管理的普遍转变的重要性。具体而言，在我们研究中最干旱的条件下，有机管理显示出缓冲高度退化土壤中生物多样性丧失的潜力，与传统管理土壤相比，原核生物和原生生物的多样性显著增加。因此，全球和同时区域特定方法的结合支持了这样的假设，即在未来几年，向有机农业的转变将在干旱条件下高度退化的土壤中对地下多样性产生最大的有益影响，这是增强农业对全球变化的恢复力和适应能力的关键工具。
