Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo1,2, Peter B Reich3,4, Richard D Bardgett5, David J Eldridge6, Hans Lambers7, David A Wardle8, Sasha C Reed9, César Plaza10, G Kenny Png5,8, Sigrid Neuhauser11, Asmeret Asefaw Berhe12, Stephen C Hart12, Hang-Wei Hu13,14, Ji-Zheng He13,14, Felipe Bastida15, Sebastián Abades16, Fernando D Alfaro16,17, Nick A Cutler18, Antonio Gallardo19, Laura García-Velázquez19, Patrick E Hayes7,20,21, Zeng-Yei Hseu22, Cecilia A Pérez17, Fernanda Santos12, Christina Siebe23, Pankaj Trivedi24, Benjamin W Sullivan25, Luis Weber-Grullon26,27,28, Mark A Williams29, Noah Fierer30,31. 1. Departamento de Sistemas Físicos, Químicos y Naturales, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, 41013, Sevilla, Spain. M.DelgadoBaquerizo@gmail.com. 2. Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, 80309, USA. M.DelgadoBaquerizo@gmail.com. 3. Department of Forest Resources, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, 55108, USA. 4. Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia. 5. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Michael Smith Building, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PT, UK. 6. Centre for Ecosystem Studies, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia. 7. School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Hwy, Crawley (Perth), WA, 6009, Australia. 8. Asian School of the Environment, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang avenue, Singapore, 639798, Singapore. 9. US Geological Survey, Southwest Biological Science Center, Moab, UT, USA. 10. Instituto de Ciencias Agrarias, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Serrano 115 bis, 28006, Madrid, Spain. 11. Institute of Microbiology, University of Innsbruck, Technikerstr. 25, Innsbruck, 6020, Austria. 12. Department of Life and Environmental Sciences and Sierra Nevada Research Institute, University of California Merced, Merced, California, 95343, USA. 13. Key Laboratory for Humid Subtropical Eco-geographical Processes of the Ministry of Education, School of Geographical Science, Fujian Normal University, 350007, Fuzhou, China. 14. Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, 3010, Australia. 15. CEBAS-CSIC. Department of Soil and Water Conservation. Campus Universitario de Espinardo, 30100, Murcia, Spain. 16. GEMA Center for Genomics, Ecology & Environment, Faculty of Interdisciplinary Studies, Universidad Mayor, Camino La Pirámide, 5750, Huechuraba, Santiago, Chile. 17. Instituto de Ecología y Biodiversidad, Las Palmeras, 3425, Santiago, Chile. 18. School of Geography, Politics and Sociology, Newcastle University, Newcastle, UK. 19. Departamento de Sistemas Físicos, Químicos y Naturales, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, 41013, Sevilla, Spain. 20. Centre for Microscopy, Characterization and Analysis, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, 6009, Australia. 21. Crop, Livestock and Environment Division, Japan International Research Centre for Agricultural Sciences, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8656, Japan. 22. Department of Agricultural Chemistry, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 10617, Taiwan. 23. Instituto de Geología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria, México, D.F. CP 04510, Mexico. 24. Microbiome Network and Department of Agricultural Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, 80523, CO, USA. 25. Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Science, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, 89557, USA. 26. Global Drylands Center, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA. 27. School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA. 28. School of Sustainability, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA. 29. School of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, USA. 30. Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, 80309, USA. 31. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, 80309, USA.
Abstract
The importance of soil age as an ecosystem driver across biomes remains largely unresolved. By combining a cross-biome global field survey, including data for 32 soil, plant, and microbial properties in 16 soil chronosequences, with a global meta-analysis, we show that soil age is a significant ecosystem driver, but only accounts for a relatively small proportion of the cross-biome variation in multiple ecosystem properties. Parent material, climate, vegetation and topography predict, collectively, 24 times more variation in ecosystem properties than soil age alone. Soil age is an important local-scale ecosystem driver; however, environmental context, rather than soil age, determines the rates and trajectories of ecosystem development in structure and function across biomes. Our work provides insights into the natural history of terrestrial ecosystems. We propose that, regardless of soil age, changes in the environmental context, such as those associated with global climatic and land-use changes, will have important long-term impacts on the structure and function of terrestrial ecosystems across biomes.
The importance of soil age as an ecosystem driver across biomes remains largely unresolved. By combining a cross-biome global field survey, including data for 32 soil, plant, and microbin>an class="Chemical">al properties in 16 soil chronosequences, with a global meta-analysis, we show that soil age is a significant ecosystem driver, but only accounts for a relatively small proportion of the cross-biome variation in multiple ecosystem properties. Parent material, climate, vegetation and topography predict, collectively, 24 times more variation in ecosystem properties than soil age alone. Soil age is an important local-scale ecosystem driver; however, environmental context, rather than soil age, determines the rates and trajectories of ecosystem development in structure and function across biomes. Our work provides insights into the natural history of terrestrial ecosystems. We propose that, regardless of soil age, changes in the environmental context, such as those associated with global climatic and land-use changes, will have important long-term impacts on the structure and function of terrestrial ecosystems across biomes.
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