Global environmental change may decouple ecological interactions and biogeochemical cycles well before the most evident changes, such as biodiversity loss, can even be detected. This decoupling may result in greater chances of ecosystem degradation and may set ecosystems for a sudden functional and structural change, with consequences for the reliable supply of ecosystem services on which our societies depend. However, we still lack a clear understanding of the mechanisms through which changes in soil-microbial-plant interactions and biogeochemical coupling may mediate the response of ecosystem functioning to global change. In ECO-4-FUN, we aim to evaluate the degree of coupling among plant and soil communities and of these communities with their abiotic environment in grasslands worldwide (SpatialNet coordinated survey) and in response to global change (see how to contribute to this goal here: http://www.soil-organisms.org/index.php/SO/article/view/121).
Funding agency: Proyectos de I+D+i» de los Programa Estatal de Generación de Conocimiento (Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación) (2020-2024)