The soil microbiome as an indicator of ecosystem multifunctionality in European soils

作者：Ferran Romero, Maëva Labouyrie, Alberto Orgiazzi, Cristiano Ballabio, Panos Panagos, Arwyn T. Jones, Leho Tedersoo, Mohammad Bahram, Nico Eisenhauer, Marie Sünnemann, Carlos A. Guerra, Dongxue Tao, Ido Rog, Shuo Jiao, Stéfano Mocali, Matthias C. Rillig, Anika Lehmann, Manuel Delgado‐Baquerizo, Marcel G. A. van der Heijden · 发表于：Nature Communications · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1038/s41467-025-67353-9 · 被引用次数：20 · 研究领域：Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology、Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics、Polar Research and Ecology

The role of soil microorganisms in supporting multiple ecosystem functions (multifunctionality) remains poorly understood across diverse environmental conditions. Here, we investigate 484 soils from 27 European countries spanning a range of climatic and edaphic contexts. We assess the contribution of climate, soil properties, and soil microbiome traits (i.e., the relative abundance of co-occurring taxa) to explain six key functional proxies related to soil structure, biochemical activity, and productivity. We find the highest multifunctionality values in grasslands, woodlands, loamy and acidic soils, and temperate humid regions, and the lowest in croplands, alkaline soils, and drier regions. Soil properties explain 12-31% of variation in multifunctionality, with microbial biomass and nitrogen content emerging as the strongest predictors. The soil microbiome accounts for 2-14% of unique variance in multifunctionality but explains more than 25% of variation in enzymatic activities and primary productivity in clay-rich soils and soils originating from temperate dry regions. Specific taxa, particularly within Actinobacteria, Acidobacteria, and the fungal genus Mortierella consistently emerge as strong predictors of ecosystem multifunctionality. Our findings highlight that ecosystem multifunctionality is jointly shaped by soil properties and microbial communities. We argue that specific taxa hold potential as context-dependent indicators for multifunctionality monitoring across en...