Threats to soil biodiversity - global and regional trends

COOPER, M; MONICA KOBAYASHI; BROWN, GEORGE; BEDANO J.C.

State of knowledge of soil biodiversity - Status, challenges and potentialities, Report 2020.

FAO

Año: 2020; p. 191 - 261

Using the information provided on the main threats in the ten ecoregions present in thesix world regions (Table of threats for Sub-Saharan Africa, South West Pacific, LatinAmerica and Caribbean, North Africa and Near East, North America and Europe; FAOand ITPS, 2015), a summary table of the main threats common to these ecoregions wasproduced. This exercise showed that the most widespread threat to soilbiodiversity in the world was the loss of SOM and SOC, and that this could be associatedwith other threats such as deforestation and agricultural intensification (both linked withland use change) and with climate change (particularly in tundra). This clearly showsthe importance of sustainable management and conservation practices, to maintain thisresource in soils, which represents one of the bases for the soil?s food webs. Deforestationand agricultural intensification were also major threats worldwide, being important intropical and temperate broadleaf and mixed forests and temperate and montane grasslandsand boreal forests/taiga, although the level of available information on the topic washighly variable, depending on the particular world regions where these ecoregions occur.The ecoregions with the highest number of threats were the deserts and dry shrublands,the tropical and subtropical grasslands, and the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests.Invasive species also represented an important threat, particularly in Mediterranean andtemperate forests and tundra.