{
  "id": 5284775,
  "title": "Soils from different landscape elements diverge in response to multiple global change factors",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/03/soils-from-different-landscape-elements-diverge-in-response-to",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-09-03T00:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "bioRxiv",
    "slug": "biorxiv",
    "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.01.748383v1?rss=1"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Global change factors (GCFs) are known to impact terrestrial ecosystems across various land-use types, such as farmlands, grasslands, and forests. However, it is uncertain if different landscape elements within the same region respond differently to the same global change pressures. To investigate this, researchers studied four soils from co-located farmland, grassland, pine forest, and oak forest under identical regional climatic conditions. Each soil was subjected to one or all six GCFs, including warming, drought, nitrogen deposition, salinity, microplastics, and antibiotics. They also analyzed the effects of these factors combined.\n\nThe study found that landscape elements exhibited strongly divergent responses to the same GCFs. The impact on soil functions varied among soils when exposed to combined stress, which deviated from predictions based on null-models depending on the specific soil and response variable. Furthermore, response patterns became more distinct for each landscape element when exposed to multiple concurrent stressors. Overall, the findings suggest that landscape heterogeneity represents a patchwork of varying capacities to withstand and react to global changes, even under shared climatic and geographic conditions. Consequently, global change assessments and ecosystem models should consider landscape-level heterogeneity, and management strategies aimed at improving ecosystem resilience should be customized to individual landscape elements.",
  "summary": "Global change factors (GCFs) are known to affect terrestrial ecosystems across a range of land-use types, including farmlands, grasslands, and forests. However, it remains unclear whether different landscape elements within the same region respond differently to the same global change pressures. Here, we investigated this question using four soils collected from co-located farmland, grassland,…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}