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Global maps of soil-dwelling nematode worms

Accurate estimates of the biodiversity of soil animals are essential for conservation efforts and to understand the animals’ role in carbon cycles. Such information is now available on a global scale for nematode worms.
  1. Nico Eisenhauer

    1. Nico Eisenhauer is at the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Halle-Jena-Leipzig , 04103 Leipzig, Germany, and at the Institute of Biology, Leipzig University.

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  2. Carlos A. Guerra

    1. Carlos A. Guerra is at the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Halle-Jena-Leipzig , 04103 Leipzig, Germany, and at the Institute of Biology, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany.

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Climate change is affecting biodiversity and the functioning of ecosystems around the globe1. Soil organisms are a crucial component of terrestrial biodiversity, and aid human well-being by making contributions in areas such as food security, water purification and carbon storage2,3. However, there is uncertainty about how the dynamics of soil biodiversity will change in the future as a result of agricultural intensification and alterations in climate and land use4. This is alarming, given the substantial gaps in current knowledge about the global distribution of soil biodiversity5,6. Large, worldwide data sets of soil microorganisms and fungi are available, and these have been generated using DNA-based approaches7,8. However, no quantitative assessment of soil animals has been undertaken at the global scale. Writing in Nature, van den Hoogen et al.9 now fill this gap by presenting the most comprehensive data set of soil-dwelling nematode worms reported so far.

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Nature 572, 187-188 (2019)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-02197-0

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