Preliminary assessment of the knowledge gaps to improve nature conservation of soil biodiversity

20 páginas.- 2 tablas.- referencias.-In the past decades, there has been an increasing awareness of the importance of Nature Conservation of Soil Biodiversity. Approximately 59% of all biodiversity on the planet is comprised of soil living organisms (Anthony et al. 2023), ranging from microorganisms to vertebrate species (FAO et al. 2020, Anthony et al. 2023). Soil biodiversity plays a central role in soil health and ecosystem services, as the activities of soil biota support the delivery of various ecosystem services, such as carbon sequestration, nutrient cycling, prevention of soil erosion, pest control, and cleaning of air and water (Banerjee and van der Heijden 2023, Creamer et al. 2022, Pulleman et al. 2012). However, soil biodiversity is currently threatened by intensive agriculture and forestry as well as soil sealing in urban environments. Protecting soil biodiversity and thus its ecosystem functions and services will have positive effects on a number of sustainability development goals (SDGs), including water quality and food security, among others (FAO et al. 2020, Köninger et al. 2022). Nevertheless, recent work did not find positive effects of current conservation practices on soil biodiversity and its ecosystem functions (Zeiss et al. 2022). The authors suggest this is predominantly because the priorities and the decision-making paradigms used for selection of sites for conservation do not take into account soil biodiversity, its associated ecosystem functions, or the value of belowground ecosystems to human well-being and economic development (Bardgett and van der Putten 2014, FAO et al. 2020, Zeiss et al. 2022). While biodiversity-friendly management approaches, such as ecological intensification (Kleijn et al. 2019), regenerative agriculture and agroecology (Barrios et al. 2023, FAO 2023, Grilli et al. 2023) are receiving increasing attention, studies focused on conservation of soil biodiversity and its ecosystem functions are still limited (Bardgett and van der Putten 2014, FAO et al. 2020, Zeiss et al. 2022). Thus, there is a stark need for identifying knowledge gaps and new research and innovation to help protect and conserve soil biodiversity, the ecosystem services they provide, and their impact on human health and economics.Peer reviewe