Soil is the primary source of ecosystem services

The gap

Evidence profile

Sourced from the stated research gap and future-work section and abstract of the source papers, classified as general, drawn from work published between 2019 and 2026, spanning 5 journals. Those papers have been cited 17 times in total.

Supporting evidence — 6 representative gaps

• Soil animal ecology in China: Two decades of progress and future prospects (2026) · Soil Ecology Letters · doi

  Critical gaps remain in scaling mechanistic understanding from microcosms to fields and in predicting responses under interacting global changes. There is a lack of quantitative data on the magnitude and context-dependency of soil fauna functional contributions across different ecosystems and climatic regions.

  generalstated research gapevidence 5/5
  Keywords: critical gaps remain scaling mechanistic understanding microcosms fields
• Sample size shapes metabarcoding-driven biodiversity assessments across body sizes in soil (2026) · Applied Soil Ecology · doi

  examining the effects of other sampling parameters on biodiversity detection, - investigating the relationships between organismal traits and biodiversity detection in other ecosystems, - developing taxon-specific analytical frameworks for metabarcoding-based soil biodiversity assessments

  generalfuture-work sectionevidence 5/5
  Keywords: examining effects other sampling parameters biodiversity detection investigating
• Methodical Aspects of Soil Ecosystem Services Valuation (2022) · Agricultural Engineering/Inżynieria Rolnicza · cited 3× · doi

  Soil is the primary source of ecosystem services such as the production of food and regulating the climate, however the methodological alternatives for valuing soil ecosystem services remain poorly studied.

  generalabstractevidence 4/5
  Keywords: soil ecosystem services primary source production food regulating climate methodological alternatives valuing remain poorly studied
• The effects of global change on soil faunal communities: a meta-analytic approach (2019) · Research Ideas and Outcomes · cited 14× · doi

  This project aims to fill the current gaps in the literature, and actively participate in incorporating soil biodiversity into future global biodiversity assessments, by creating the first global open-acess dataset on the impacts of multiple global change drivers on soil fauna.

  generalabstractevidence 4/5
  Keywords: global soil biodiversity project aims fill current gaps literature actively participate incorporating future assessments creating
• Soil animal ecology in China: Two decades of progress and future prospects (2026) · Soil Ecology Letters · doi

  Further research is needed to translate fundamental ecological knowledge into applicable frameworks. Studies should focus on establishing quantitative assessment systems for soil fauna functions and developing standardized inoculation and field amplification techniques. Research should also investigate the effects of interacting global changes on soil fauna and ecosystem processes.

  generalfuture-work sectionevidence 4/5
  Keywords: further research needed translate fundamental ecological knowledge applicable
• Land-Use Change Simplifies Multidimensional Edaphic Space and Weakens Deterministic Assembly in Tropical Soil Bacteria (2026) · Microbial Ecology · doi

  Abstract Land-use change is a major driver of shifts in soil biodiversity, but it remains unclear whether its effects arise primarily from altered environmental conditions or from changes in multidimensional organisation of environmental gradients that shape ecological filtering.

  generalabstractevidence 2/5
  Keywords: environmental abstract land change major driver shifts soil biodiversity remains unclear whether effects arise primarily

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