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Biodiversity in the dark

A multitude of organisms makes soils the fertile factories of food and fibre production, decomposition and nutrient cycling that they are. But tying changes in soil biodiversity to shifts in ecosystem function is a daunting task.

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Figure 1: A microscopic view of riparian soil and litter fauna, Alabama, USA.

VALERIE BEHAN-PELLETIER

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Acknowledgements

D.H.W. and E.F.K. acknowledge support of the USA NSF LTER Program; support also provided to D.H.W. and R.D.B by NSF DEB 0344834, and to E.F.K. by NSF DEB0743786.

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Correspondence to Diana H. Wall.

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Wall, D., Bardgett, R. & Kelly, E. Biodiversity in the dark. Nature Geosci 3, 297–298 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo860

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