In the past century, the study of aboveground ecology has attracted extensive attention. However, the diversity of soil fauna, ecological processes, and the ecological links between aboveground and underground components are sometimes unclear due to their high complexity. This knowledge gap hampers our ability to understand and predict the responses of ecosystems to environmental stresses.
Soil is a direct living environment for plants, with soil nutrients significantly affecting their growth, development, and community composition. Plants in turn can change their growth, physiology, and functional traits to adapt to soil environmental change. The feedback between plants and soil is highly important and was found to be a primary driver of succession in both above and underground biota. Plants and rhizospheric soil organisms in particular are highly dependent on each other and interact closely, as the latter plays an important role in root-soil microbial systems, root stimulation, carbon turnover of the soil, and plant growth.
Global change is expected to alter plant and soil organism communities, potentially changing the inherent connections between aboveground and underground biota, as well as trophic links in community food webs. It is therefore of utmost importance to examine whether global change factors aggravate the mismatch between aboveground and underground components and impact ecosystem multifunctionality. We can use innovative technology and methods to study this.
Increasing evidence emphasizes the importance of strong interactions between above and underground in regulating ecosystem multifunctionality and the responses to global change. Therefore, in this Research Topic, we aim to bring together current research on patterns in ecological links between aboveground and underground communities and to decipher the underlying mechanisms of ecosystem resilience and resistance to global change. We welcome Original Research Articles, Reviews, Mini Reviews, and Perspective papers.
Specific areas of interest include but are not limited to:
(1)Response of aboveground and underground plant parts to global change;
(2)Correlations between soil physiochemical properties and plant functional traits;
(3)Succession pattern and drivers of plant community and soil organisms;
(4)Responses of plant-soil-microbial system to global climate change;
(5)Linkages of the soil food web and plant and their response to global change.
In the past century, the study of aboveground ecology has attracted extensive attention. However, the diversity of soil fauna, ecological processes, and the ecological links between aboveground and underground components are sometimes unclear due to their high complexity. This knowledge gap hampers our ability to understand and predict the responses of ecosystems to environmental stresses.
Soil is a direct living environment for plants, with soil nutrients significantly affecting their growth, development, and community composition. Plants in turn can change their growth, physiology, and functional traits to adapt to soil environmental change. The feedback between plants and soil is highly important and was found to be a primary driver of succession in both above and underground biota. Plants and rhizospheric soil organisms in particular are highly dependent on each other and interact closely, as the latter plays an important role in root-soil microbial systems, root stimulation, carbon turnover of the soil, and plant growth.
Global change is expected to alter plant and soil organism communities, potentially changing the inherent connections between aboveground and underground biota, as well as trophic links in community food webs. It is therefore of utmost importance to examine whether global change factors aggravate the mismatch between aboveground and underground components and impact ecosystem multifunctionality. We can use innovative technology and methods to study this.
Increasing evidence emphasizes the importance of strong interactions between above and underground in regulating ecosystem multifunctionality and the responses to global change. Therefore, in this Research Topic, we aim to bring together current research on patterns in ecological links between aboveground and underground communities and to decipher the underlying mechanisms of ecosystem resilience and resistance to global change. We welcome Original Research Articles, Reviews, Mini Reviews, and Perspective papers.
Specific areas of interest include but are not limited to:
(1)Response of aboveground and underground plant parts to global change;
(2)Correlations between soil physiochemical properties and plant functional traits;
(3)Succession pattern and drivers of plant community and soil organisms;
(4)Responses of plant-soil-microbial system to global climate change;
(5)Linkages of the soil food web and plant and their response to global change.
