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Research article2004Peer reviewed

Ecological linkages between aboveground and belowground biota

Wardle DA, Bardgett RD, Klironomos JN, Setala H, van der Putten WH, Wall DH

Abstract

All terrestrial ecosystems consist of aboveground and belowground components that interact to influence community- and ecosystem-level processes and properties. Here we show how these components are closely interlinked at the community level, reinforced by a greater degree of specificity between plants and soil organisms than has been previously supposed. As such, aboveground and belowground communities can be powerful mutual drivers, with both positive and negative feedbacks. A combined aboveground-belowground approach to community and ecosystem ecology is enhancing our understanding of the regulation and functional significance of biodiversity and of the environmental impacts of human-induced global change phenomena

Published in

Science
2004, Volume: 304, number: 5677, pages: 1629-1633
Publisher: AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE

      SLU Authors

    • Wardle, David

      • Department of Forest Vegetation Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

    UKÄ Subject classification

    Forest Science

    Publication identifier

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1094875

    Permanent link to this page (URI)

    https://res.slu.se/id/publ/2856