It's the soil!

[Gloria]

It keeps coming down to not destroying the soil. Can we, humanity, do less damage?

A team of researchers led by biologists at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) has shown that soil-borne pathogens are one important mechanism that can maintain species diversity and explain patterns of tree abundance in a forest.
Biodiversity's 'holy grail' is in the soil : Soil-borne pathogens drive tree diversity in forests, study shows

[Gloria]

250 pages of information on soil driven biodiversity. Several charts with good information and links to others sources. pdf link below.

For the sake of simplicity,
this report has divided the organisms
and microorganisms
that can be found in soil into
three broad functional groups
called chemical engineers,
biological regulators
and ecosystem engineers.

The management of soil communities could be the basis for the conservation of endangered plants and animals. Indeed, as we have seen, soil biodiversity directly affects aboveground plant diversity, and thus indirectly the rest of aboveground communities.
Moreover soil communities are essential to the provision of several regulating services, such as climate, water,erosion and disease regulation.which are the main drivers of aboveground diversity.

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/soil...ity_report.pdf

[Gloria]

This article sounds interesting. Soil pathogens as natural enemies.

ESA Online Journals - INVASIVENESS OF AMMOPHILA ARENARIA: RELEASE FROM SOIL-BORNE PATHOGENS?
Julie Beckstead1 and Ingrid M. Parker
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, California 95064 USA

The Natural Enemies Hypothesis
(i.e., introduced species experience release from their natural enemies)
is a common explanation for why invasive species are so successful.

[WG Admin]

Good finds Gloria.