Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Research Briefing
  • Published:

Soils worldwide suffer from the combined effects of multiple global change factors

Nature Climate Change volume 13, pages 428–429 (2023)Cite this article

Subjects

A statistical analysis of data from global surveys reveals that soils react to the number of stressors as well as to the individual stressor types. Moreover, the increasing number of stressors above a critical threshold reduces soil biodiversity and impedes the delivery of various ecosystem processes.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: The number of stressors operating at high levels decreases the delivery of multiple ecosystem processes.

References

  1. Sage, R. Global change biology: a primer. Glob. Change Biol. 26, 3–30 (2020). A review article that presents the various factors that are driving global change.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Rillig, M. C., Ryo, M. & Lehmann, A. Classifying human influences on terrestrial ecosystems. Glob. Change Biol. 27, 2273–2278 (2021). This article presents an approach for classifying global change factors that affect terrestrial ecosystems and the soil.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Rillig, M. C. et al. The role of multiple global change factors in driving soil functions and microbial biodiversity. Science 366, 886–890 (2019). This paper uses a lab-based experiment to show that increasing the number of global change factors leads to progressively lower biodiversity and soil processes.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Yang, G. et al. Multiple anthropogenic pressures eliminate the effects of soil microbial diversity on ecosystem functions in experimental microcosms. Nat. Commun. 13, 4260 (2022). This paper reports that high soil biodiversity cannot protect soils from the effects of an increasing number of global change factors.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This is a summary of: Rillig, M. C. et al. Increasing the number of stressors reduces soil ecosystem services worldwide. Nat. Clim. Change https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01627-2 (2023).

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Soils worldwide suffer from the combined effects of multiple global change factors. Nat. Clim. Chang. 13, 428–429 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01628-1

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01628-1

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing Anthropocene

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Anthropocene newsletter — what matters in anthropocene research, free to your inbox weekly.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Anthropocene