Microorganisms, including bacteria, archaea, viruses, fungi, and protists, are essential to life
on Earth and the functioning of the biosphere. Here, we discuss the key roles of …

Ecological restoration of terrestrial environments is a globally important process to combat
the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services. Holistic monitoring of restored biota and …

Numerous restoration measures have been implemented to rebuild degraded alpine
grasslands on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, one of the most fragile regions in the world …

Ecosystem degradation is a major environmental threat. Beyond conservation, restoration of
degraded ecosystems is a prerequisite to reinstate their ability to provide essential services …

Soil fungi are vital for ecosystem functioning, but an understanding of their ecology is still
growing. A better appreciation of their ecological preferences and the controls on the …

Drylands are highly vulnerable to land degradation, and despite increasing efforts,
restoration success remains low. Although often ignored in the design and deployment of …

The ability of soil to sequester carbon and reduce atmospheric CO 2 concentrations is
limited and depends on the soil minerals and their interaction with the microbiota. Microbial …

Soil fungi play important roles in the functioning of ecosystems, but they are challenging to
measure. Using a continental-scale dataset, we developed and evaluated a new method to …

Background Land degradation and climate change pose serious threats to global
biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services. The key role of plant diversity in resisting …

With the aim to identify future challenges and opportunities in vegetation science, we
brought together a group of 22 early career vegetation scientists from diverse backgrounds …