The soil microbiome as an indicator of ecosystem multifunctionality in European soils
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 environmental gradients.
Authors
- Carlos A. Guerra (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4917-2105)
- Alberto Orgiazzi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8390-6654)
- Maëva Labouyrie (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0313-0404)
- Nico Eisenhauer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0371-6720)
- Ferran Romero (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2986-4166)
- Arwyn T. Jones (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2781-8905)
- Panos Panagos (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1484-2738)
- Marcel G. A. van der Heijden (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7040-1924)
- Mohammad Bahram (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9539-3307)
- Anika Lehmann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9101-9297)
- Stéfano Mocali (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1173-7206)
- Shuo Jiao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1228-1757)
- Leho Tedersoo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1635-1249)
- Matthias C. Rillig (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3541-7853)
- Dongxue Tao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1360-9056)
- Marie Sünnemann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5385-258X)
- Ido Rog (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9120-3617)
- Cristiano Ballabio (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7452-9271)
- Manuel Delgado‐Baquerizo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6499-576X)
Institutions
- Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (ES)
- Sun Yat-sen University (CN)
- University of Zurich (CH)
- Aarhus University (DK)
- European Commission (BE)
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (DE)
- Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SE)
- North West Agriculture and Forestry University (CN)
- Centro di Ricerca per l’Orticoltura (IT)
- Agro Business Park (DK)
- Joint Research Centre (IT)
- Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Sevilla (ES)
- Agroscope (CH)
- Centro Agricoltura Ambiente (Italy) (IT)
- University of Tartu (EE)
- Freie Universität Berlin (DE)
- University of Coimbra (PT)
- Leipzig University (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2025-12-14
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-67353-9
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 3.43
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- European Commission
- Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung
- Novo Nordisk
- Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación
- Novo Nordisk Fonden
- Agencia Estatal de Investigación