JRC publishes a Global Biodiversity Atlas

This first-ever Global Soil Biodiversity Atlas maps the soil biodiversity of the entire planet. It was coordinated by the JRC and the Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative (www.globalsoilbiodiversity.org) with more than 70 contributing organisations and hundreds of individual contributions. It illustrates the diversity of soil organisms, their geographical and tem­poral distribution and the ecosystem functions and services provided by soil biota. The Atlas draws attention to the myriad of threats to soil biodiversity. These include inappropriate land management practices, agricultural systems, over-grazing, forest fires and poor water manage­ment. Other practices such as land conversion from grassland or forest to cropped land result in rapid loss of soil carbon, which indirectly enhances global warming.

The Atlas is available online: http://esdac.jrc.ec.europa.eu/content/global-soil-biodiversity-atlas