Towards a comprehensive assessment of soil biodiversity in Germany: status quo, challenges, and policy implications
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25674/446Keywords:
Biodiversity change, human impact, soil protection, Soil health, Policy-making, Literature synthesisAbstract
Healthy soils and the biodiversity therein are the prerequisite for the supply of manifold ecosystem services that are essential for human well-being. Detailed knowledge, especially at the national level, is important for effective policy-making to safeguard healthy functional soils for future generations. Hence, synthesis of the state of soil biodiversity and related ecosystem functions, the driving forces affecting the soil as a habitat, avenues for sustainable soil management, and the role of stakeholders at different levels is required. Here, we present the eleven key messages of the first comprehensive soil biodiversity assessment in Germany, based on the currently available and accessible literature and expert knowledge. Among others, we highlight the high biodiversity of soils in Germany, their role for climate regulation and other ecosystem services, the impact of multiple concurrent drivers, as well as actions and schemes already in place to sustainably manage soil biodiversity and to raise awareness in different groups of the public. We conclude that national assessments of the available literature and data are an important step towards the incorporation of soil biodiversity in national policies and to provide the basis for national long-term systematic monitoring.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Christian Ristok, Doreen Babin, Bartosz Bartkowski, Benjamin Burkhard, Juliane Filser, Karin Hohberg, Janina Kleemann, Steffen Kolb, Ricarda Lehmitz, Matthias C. Rillig, Jörg Römbke, Liliane Ruess, Stefan Scheu, Nicole Scheunemann, Anja Schmidt, Bastian Steinhoff-Knopp, Nico Eisenhauer, Christoph C. Tebbe, Willi E. R. Xylander
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