What is it about?
Extinctions have been examined for only certain types of organisms: plants, insects, mammals, birds - all living above ground, all macroscopic. But what about the living things in the soil: mostly microscopic, with properties very much diverging from their aboveground cousins. Are soil biota also at risk of extinction? The truth is we don't really know; this article makes the case for studying this important question, and reviews how soil biota differ from those organisms for which extinction has been addressed.
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Why is it important?
Are we missing a soil extinction crisis? Have we committed countless soil biota to extinction already without knowing? What needs to be done? The time to start is now...
Perspectives
It's easy to overlook what is going on in the soil - you can't see it, it is not charismatic or cuddly. But soil biota driver essential ecosystem processes and are a treasure chest of benefits for humanity. It is interesting to think how extinctions may be affecting our soils and its inhabitants.
Professor Matthias C Rillig
Freie Universitat Berlin
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Extinction risk of soil biota, Nature Communications, November 2015, Nature,
DOI: 10.1038/ncomms9862.
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