Summary
This global field study demonstrates that cumulative environmental stressors in soils have a dose-dependent negative relationship with ecosystem services, with significant impacts emerging at medium stressor levels (>50%) and pronounced reductions in soil biodiversity and functioning when stressors exceed 75% of observed maximum levels. The research, conducted across multiple biomes using standardised field surveys, provides empirical evidence for a multistressor threshold effect on soil functioning that was previously only demonstrated in laboratory experiments. The findings suggest that reducing the dimensionality of anthropogenic pressures is essential for biodiversity and soil ecosystem service conservation.
UK applicability
The findings are applicable to UK soils and agricultural systems, which experience multiple stressors including land-use intensification, pollution, and climate pressures. Understanding stressor thresholds could inform UK soil health policy and land management practices to prevent simultaneous exceedance of critical stressor levels.
Key measures
Number of environmental stressors exceeding critical thresholds (>50% and >75% of maximum observed levels); soil biodiversity; ecosystem services; ecosystem functioning
Outcomes reported
The study assessed the relationship between the number of environmental stressors and maintenance of multiple soil ecosystem services across biomes using two independent global standardised field surveys. It measured how stressor levels above critical thresholds (50% and 75% of maximum observed values) correlate with soil biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.
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