The plant economics spectrum integrates trade‐offs and covariation in resource economic traits of different plant organs and their consequences for pivotal ecosystem processes, such as decomposition. However, in this concept stems are often considered as one unit ignoring the important functional differences between wood (xylem) and bark. These differences may not only affect the performance of woody plants during their lifeti...

Urban development and species invasion are two major global threats to biodiversity. These threats often co‐occur, as developed areas are more prone to species invasion. However, few empirical studies have tested if both factors affect biodiversity in similar ways. Here we study the individual and combined effects of urban development and plant invasion on the composition of arthropod communities. We assessed 36 paired invaded...

Soil faunal activity can be a major control of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from soil. Effects of single faunal species, genera or families have been investigated, but it is unknown how soil fauna diversity may influence emissions of both carbon dioxide (CO 2 , end product of decomposition of organic matter) and nitrous oxide (N 2 O, an intermediate product of N transformation processes, in particular denitrification). Here,...

Beta‐lactam biosynthesis was thought to occur only in fungi and bacteria, but we recently reported the presence of isopenicillin N synthase in a soil‐dwelling animal, Folsomia candida . However, it has remained unclear whether this gene is part of a larger beta‐lactam biosynthesis pathway and how widespread the occurrence of penicillin biosynthesis is among animals. Here, we analysed the distribution of beta‐lactam biosynthesi...

Aim Despite the huge diversity of soil animals and their recognized contribution to many ecosystem functions, little is known about the relative importance of factors controlling their abundance and distribution. We examined the relative importance of environmental and spatial factors in explaining the species and functional trait composition of terrestrial snail communities at the level of meta‐communities (spatial extent c ....

The ecological impact of rapid environmental change will depend on the resistance of key ecosystems processes, which may be promoted by species that exert strong control over local environmental conditions. Recent theoretical work suggests that macrodetritivores increase the resistance of African savanna ecosystems to changing climatic conditions, but experimental evidence is lacking. We examined the effect of large fungus‐gro...