Global maps of soil temperature.

Research in global change ecology relies heavily on global climatic grids derived from estimates of air temperature in open areas at around 2 m above the ground. These climatic grids do not reflect conditions below vegetation canopies and near the ground surface, where critical ecosystem functions occur and most terrestrial species reside. Here, we provide global maps of soil temperature and bioclimatic variables at a 1-km <sup>2</sup> resolution for 0-5 and 5-15 cm soil depth. These maps were created by calculating the difference (i.e. offset) between in situ soil temperature measurements, based on time series from over 1200 1-km <sup>2</sup> pixels (summarized from 8519 unique temperature sensors) across all the world's major terrestrial biomes, and coarse-grained air temperature estimates from ERA5-Land (an atmospheric reanalysis by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts). We show that mean annual soil temperature differs markedly from the corresponding gridded air temperature, by up to 10°C (mean = 3.0 ± 2.1°C), with substantial variation across biomes and seasons. Over the year, soils in cold and/or dry biomes are substantially warmer (+3.6 ± 2.3°C) than gridded air temperature, whereas soils in warm and humid environments are on average slightly cooler (-0.7 ± 2.3°C). The observed substantial and biome-specific offsets emphasize that the projected impacts of climate and climate change on near-surface biodiversity and ecosystem functioning are inaccurately assessed when air rather than soil temperature is used, especially in cold environments. The global soil-related bioclimatic variables provided here are an important step forward for any application in ecology and related disciplines. Nevertheless, we highlight the need to fill remaining geographic gaps by collecting more in situ measurements of microclimate conditions to further enhance the spatiotemporal resolution of global soil temperature products for ecological applications

Depth distribution and composition of seed-banks under different tree layers in a managed temperate forest ecosystem

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Natural versus artificial coldstratification: Which one allows better estimates of soil seed banks in a forest ecosystem?

Seedling emergence techniques provide an estimate of viable seeds in the soil seed bank based on germination of seeds under favourable germination conditions. The present contribution is aimed at studying whether artificial stratification in a cold chamber is capable of revealing more viable seeds in soil samples compared with natural cold-stratification in the soil through a winter period in order to estimate density and composition of soil seed bank in temperate forest ecosystem. A total of 384 soil samples were collected in December and June from permanently marked plots in a forest ecosystem from central Belgium. December samples were artificially stratified (AS) by undergoing a cold-moist stratification, before laying them in the greenhouse. June samples were put in a greenhouse for direct germination of seeds which were naturally stratified (NS). Emerging seedlings were identified and counted during 12 months. A total of 6960 seedlings emerged in the AS samples and 14,928 seedlings in the NS samples, corresponding to 2719 and 5831 seeds/m 2 respectively. A total of 27 species emerged from the AS samples and 19 species from the NS samples. Based on our data in a forest ecosystem with temperate humid climate on loessic materials, artificial stratification allowed the emergence of a larger number of species from the soil seed bank, but natural stratification improved estimates of the seed bank density. We therefore recommend the use of both methods to optimize the estimation of both species number and density in soil seed banks.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Seed development and germination eco-physiology of the invasive tree Prunus serotina (Rosaceae) in a temperate forest in Western Europe

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Ecological factors controlling the abundance of non-native invasive Black Cherry (Prunus serotina) in deciduous forest understory in Belgium

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Ex situ conservation of rare and valuable forest tree species through seed-gene bank: an introduction

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe