Study published in “Nature” shows that global hotspots for soil nature conservation are poorly protected

English version: Diana Taborda

An international study with the participation of Alexandra Rodríguez and Jorge Durán, researchers from the Centre for Functional Ecology of the Faculty of Sciences and Technology of the University of Coimbra (FCTUC), published today in the prestigious journal Nature, identifies the regions of the world that should have the highest priority for soil nature conservation, which are located in the tropics, Asia, North America and Europe

The research, which includes more than 10,000 observations of biodiversity indicators (invertebrates, fungi, protists, bacteria and archaea) and ecosystem services in 615 soil samples from all continents, also concludes that most of the soils that maintain the highest levels of biodiversity and ecological services do not have an adequate level of protection. The scientists combined these observations to assess three ecological dimensions of soil: species diversity, the uniqueness of these species in each region, and various ecosystem services such as regulation of the water cycle or carbon storage.

Researchers from FCTUC's Centre for Functional Ecology, co-authors of the scientific article and responsible for the collection and analysis of samples in Portugal and Antarctica, argue that soil biodiversity must be protected. "Soil is still a barely recognised resource that, however, harbours immense biodiversity and includes key elements for the basic cycles that sustain life," says Alexandra Rodríguez. Therefore, as Jorge Durán points out, "to preserve its ecosystem services, we need to safeguard the diversity of each soil type, especially in the areas most vulnerable to foreseeable environmental changes. The protection of this diversity is essential to maintain functions of vital importance for our existence, such as carbon sequestration, pollutant degradation, etc."

Soils are also vulnerable "to climate change and land use changes. To better preserve the soil ecological values, we must know where its protection is most needed. In the case of above-ground plants and animals, biodiversity hotspots were identified decades ago. However, until now no evaluation has been done to obtain soil ecological values. Most of the food we eat comes from the soil directly or indirectly. Protecting these soils is essential for our survival," note the two co-authors of the study.

The tropics, Asia, North America and Europe are the regions where the ecosystem hotspots that have been identified should have the highest priority for soil nature conservation. The researchers compared these priority hotspots with areas that are already protected and found that half of them are not currently under any form of nature conservation.

The scientific article “Global hotspots for soil nature conservation”, is available at: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05292-x.