Although previous studies on soil nematodes, which comprise some of the most relevant soil herbivores, highlighted the relevance of plant identity effects rather than that of plant diversity [26], [76], a recent long-term study showed that effects of particular species vary in time [26].
We provide a first synthesis that illustrates (i) the multi-functional capacity of green elements in streetscapes to deliver various ecosystem services; (ii) the relevance of planted and wild-grown herbaceous vegetation as well as trees; and (iii) trade-offs between certain ecosystem services as well as risks related to disservices.
Overall, the relevance of plant community properties for soil biota performance varied significantly (frequency (FQ): Q = 8.05, P = 0.045; F-values (FV): Chi2 = 15.67, P = 0.0013).
For instance, there is an ongoing debate on the relevance of plant species richness versus that of plant species identity or presence of key plant functional groups for soil biota and functions [11], [23], [25], [26].
The results suggest that plant diversity, in terms of species and functional group richness, is the most important plant community property affecting soil biota, exceeding the relevance of plant above- and belowground productivity and the presence of key plant functional groups, i.e. grasses and legumes, with the relevance of the latter decreasing in time.
The relevance of plant species richness (r = 0.09, P = 0.66) and plant functional group richness (r = −0.29, P = 0.15) were largely consistent in time, whereas the relevance of the presence of grasses (r = −0.37, P = 0.058) and legumes (r = −0.53, P = 0.005) decreased significantly over time.
In contrast to common view, the results suggest that plant diversity essentially drives the performance of soil biota and temporal changes in plant community effects need to be considered in order to adequately assess the relevance of plant community properties for ecosystem functioning.
Here data of 2004, 2006 and 2008 are included and analysed in the same way as data on soil fauna to allow a straightforward comparison of the response of these two major soil biota groups and in order to compare the relevance of plant community properties for soil biota.
The functional relevance of plant mitochondrial RNA editing is high, as it results in the production of conserved polypeptides.
Despite the ecological, cultural and economic relevance of plant interactions with slugs and snails, our current knowledge on chemical cues that mediate plant-mollusk interactions is very limited.
