Biodiversity restated: > 99.9% of global species in Soil Biota
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: A decade or so of research led to the conclusion, in 2022, that the Soil Realm is home to ~2.1 x 1024 taxa and supports >99.9% of global species biodiversity, mostly Bacteria or other microbes based upon topographic field data. A subsequent 2023 soil biodiversity report tabulated a central value of just 1.04 × 1010 taxa and claimed soils had 59±15% (i.e., 44–74%) of total species on Earth, incidentally confirming upper values of ~90% for Bacteria. Incompatibility of these two studies is reviewed, supporting the prior global biodiversity data with a vast majority of species inhabiting soil, this despite excluding virus entities (now with >5 x 1031 virions and up to 1026 species, 80–90% being in soils). The true status of Oligochaeta (earthworms) and other taxa marked “?” in the 2023 paper are clarified. Although soil biota totals are raised enormously, inordinate threats and the reality of species extinctions yet pertain, specifically to those biota – such as microbes and earthworms – essential for rich, healthy soils that house & nourish almost all the Tree of Life presently on Earth.
Source: ZooKeys
Author: Robert Blakemore
Language: English
Subfield: Ecology
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Life on land
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $754
OpenAlex ID: W4407100108