Negative Impacts of Global Change Stressors Permeate Into Deep Soils

Abstract

Surface soils are highly vulnerable to multiple global change stressors associated with climate change and human activity; however, whether the impacts of this increasing number of stressors penetrate deeper soils remains virtually unknown. Here, we conducted a continental‐scale survey of soil profiles (0–100 cm). Results showed that multiple stressors jointly affect multiple soil functions (from soil carbon sequestration to pathogen control) across top (0–30 cm), subsurface (30–60 cm) and deep soils (60–100 cm). An increasing number of stressors was especially detrimental to the capacity of ecosystems to support productivity and regulate soil‐borne pathogens across all depths. Further analyses revealed that climatic stressors interact with multiple environmental stressors, diminishing multifunctionality across the soil profile. Our work demonstrates that the effects of multiple stressors can permeate the entire soil profile, highlighting that an increasing number of global change stressors at low levels significantly threaten multiple functions supported by deep soils.

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