Summary
This continental-scale study examines how soil microbial life history strategies — characterised along yield (Y), resource acquisition (A), and stress-tolerance axes — respond to increasing aridity and underpin ecosystem multifunctionality across drylands. Using 474 soil samples and a combination of metagenomic sequencing and physiological assays, the authors identify a discrete aridity threshold beyond which plot-level EMF declines sharply, with microbial habitat and decomposition functions proving more resistant to aridification than plant productivity and soil fertility. The findings suggest that shifts in microbial community strategy under water stress are a key mechanism mediating the loss of multiple ecosystem functions simultaneously.
UK applicability
This study focuses on dryland and aridity gradients not directly representative of most UK agricultural contexts; however, the findings have indirect relevance to UK soil health policy by demonstrating how microbial functional strategies underpin ecosystem service delivery, with potential implications for managing soils under increasing summer drought stress projected under UK climate change scenarios.
Key measures
Ecosystem multifunctionality index; aridity thresholds; microbial life history strategy scores (Y, A, stress-tolerance); metagenomic functional gene profiles; soil enzyme activities; plant productivity; soil fertility indicators; decomposition rates
Outcomes reported
The study measured ecosystem multifunctionality (EMF) across 474 soil samples spanning a continental aridity gradient, identifying threshold responses in microbial life history strategies (yield, resource acquisition, and stress tolerance) and their relationship to functions including plant productivity, soil fertility, decomposition, and microbial habitat quality.
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