Soils are home to some of the most diverse animal communities on Earth. These animals – including nematodes, springtails, mites, earthworms, spiders and other arthropods – drive decomposition, regulate microbial communities and contribute to nutrient cycling. However, little is known about how these animals’ “trophic diversity” – meaning the variety of feeding activities – is affected by land use and climate. An international research team led by the University of Göttingen has now shown that soil animal communities have greater trophic diversity in agricultural ecosystems and in tropical regions. The study analysed carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios from over 17,000 soil samples, covering 28 major groups of organisms from 456 sites across 19 countries. The results were published in Nature Ecology & Evolution.

Clay minerals have long been thought too large for plant absorption, but new research turns that assumption on its head. 

Microbes beneath our feet quietly orchestrate the health of ecosystems, but their seasonal rhythms remain a mystery—especially in coastal wetlands.

A research team led by Profs. GAO Jing and YAO Tandong from the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with international scientists, has determined how the westerlies integrate their moisture into the local water cycle under non-precipitating conditions.

New evidence and a reanalysis of 540-million-year-old material using advanced imaging techniques rule out the idea they were from worms or small oceanic animals.