• State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China

    Kunkun Fan & Haiyan Chu

  • University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Kunkun Fan & Haiyan Chu

  • Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

    Tadeo Sáez-Sandino, Chao Xiong & Juntao Wang

  • Environmental Science and Engineering, Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

    Fernando T. Maestre

  • Centre for Ecosystem Science, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

    David J. Eldridge & Samantha K. Travers

  • Departamento de Sistemas Físicos, Químicos y Naturales, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Seville, Spain

    Antonio Gallardo

  • State Key Laboratory of Soil Pollution Control and Safety, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

    Bin Ma, Jianming Xu & Yuzhuo Zhao

  • Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural, Resources and Environment, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

    Bin Ma, Jianming Xu & Yuzhuo Zhao

  • School of Agriculture and Environment, UWA Institute of Agriculture University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia

    Chao Xiong, Juntao Wang & Brajesh K. Singh

  • Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Almería, Spain

    Emilio Guirado & Jaime Martínez-Valderrama

  • Unité Mixte de Recherche Ecosystème Prairial, Université Clermont Auvergne, INRAE, VetAgro Sup, Clermont-Ferrand, France

    Nicolas Gross

  • Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, Avignon Université, IRD, IMBE, Aix-en-Provence, France

    Yoann Le Bagousse-Pinguet

  • Instituto Universitario de Investigación en el Olivar y Aceites de Oliva-INUO, Universidad de Jaén, Jaen, Spain

    Victoria Ochoa & Antonio Manzaneda

  • Departamento de Ingeniería y Morfología del Terreno, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros de Caminos, Canales y Puertos, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Miguel García-Gómez

  • Department of Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolution, Faculty of Biology, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Enrique Valencia

  • Department of Technology, National University of Luján, Lujan, Argentina

    Juan J. Gaitán

  • National Research Council of Argentina (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Juan J. Gaitán

  • Grupo de Ecoloxía Animal (GEA), Universidade de Vigo, Vigo, Spain

    Sergio Asensio

  • Departamento de Biología y Geología, Física y Química Inorgánica, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Mostoles, Spain

    Betty Josefina Mendoza

  • Instituto Multidisciplinar para el Estudio del Medio ‘Ramón Margalef’, Universidad de Alicante, Alicante, Spain

    Beatriz Gózalo

  • School of Eco-Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, China

    Jinsong Liang

  • Department of Natural Resource Sciences, Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada

    Lauchlan H. Fraser & Jay Singh

  • Dirección de Investigación, Vicerrectoría Académica, Universidad de Talca, Talca, Chile

    Alex Fajardo

  • Instituto de Ecología y Biodiversidad (IEB), Nunoa, Chile

    Alex Fajardo

  • Millenium Nucleus of Patagonian Limit-of-Life (LiLi), Valdivia, Chile

    Alex Fajardo

  • Doctoral Program in Sciences mention in Plant Biology and Biotechnology, Institute of Biological Sciences, Campus Talca, Universidad de Talca, Talca, Chile

    Juan P. Mora

  • Laboratorio de Ecología Tropical y Servicios Ecosistémicos-EcoSs Lab, Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas y Agropecuarias, Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja-Ecuador, Loja, Ecuador

    Carlos Ivan Espinosa & Elizabeth Gusmán-Montalván

  • Lendület Seed Ecology Research Group, Institute of Ecology and Botany, HUN-REN Centre for Ecological Research, Vacratot, Hungary

    Orsolya Valkó & Balázs Deák

  • Katif R&D Center, Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology and The Kaye Academic College, Beer Sheva, Israel

    Eli Zaady

  • Department of Biology, School of Arts and Sciences, National University of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

    Bazartseren Boldgiv & Batdelger Erdenetsetseg

  • Department of Plant Ecology and Nature Conservation, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany

    Niels Blaum & Katja Geissler

  • Department of Biodiversity Research and Systematic Botany, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany

    Katja Geissler & Anja Linstädter

  • Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Indiana University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN, USA

    Lixin Wang

  • Gobabeb-Namib Research Institute, Walvis Bay, Namibia

    Gillian Maggs-Kölling & Eugene Marais

  • Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa

    Gillian Maggs-Kölling & Frances Siebert

  • State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany

    Pierre Liancourt

  • Plant Ecology Group, University of Tübingen, Tubingen, Germany

    Pierre Liancourt & Jan Ruppert

  • KomBioTa—Center for Biodiversity and Integrative Taxonomy, University of Hohenheim and State Museum of Natural History, Stuttgart, Germany

    Pierre Liancourt

  • Misión Biológica de Galicia, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Pontevedra, Spain

    Jorge Durán & Alexandra Rodríguez

  • cE3c—Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes and CHANGE—Global Change and Sustainability Institute, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

    Alice Nunes & Cristina Branquinho

  • Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

    Peter C. le Roux & Michelle A. Louw

  • Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa

    Thulani Makhalanyane & Girish R. Nair

  • South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON), Phalaborwa, South Africa

    Anthony Swemmer

  • Forest Research Group, INDEHESA, University of Extremadura, Plasencia, Spain

    Gerardo Moreno & María Vivas

  • Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología (IPE), CSIC, Zaragoza, Spain

    Yolanda Pueyo & Ana Foronda

  • Departamento de Biología Animal, Biología Vegetal y Ecología, Universidad de Jaén, Jaen, Spain

    Pedro J. Rey & Antonio Manzaneda

  • Center for Ecosystem Science and Society, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA

    Matthew Bowker

  • School of Forestry, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA

    Matthew Bowker

  • University of Texas at El Paso, Department of Biological Sciences, El Paso, TX, USA

    Anthony Darrouzet-Nardi

  • School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

    Heather L. Throop

  • School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

    Heather L. Throop

  • Department of Biogeochemistry and Microbial Ecology, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, CSIC, Madrid, Spain

    Asunción de los Ríos

  • Departamento de Biología, Instituto de Investigación Vitivinícola y Agroalimentaria (IVAGRO), Campus de Excelencia Internacional Agroalimentario (ceiA3), Universidad de Cádiz, Puerto Real, Spain

    José Luis Blanco Pastor

  • Department of Forest Physiology and Genetics, Slovenian Forestry Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Tina Unuk Nahberger & Tine Grebenc

  • Departamento de Biodiversidad, Ecología y Evolución, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Miguel Berdugo

  • Instituto de Ciencias Agrarias, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid, Spain

    César Plaza

  • Department of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    César Plaza

  • Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid, Spain

    Ana Rey

  • Department of Life and Environmental Sciences and Sierra Nevada Research Institute, University of California Merced, Merced, CA, USA

    Stephen C. Hart & Asmeret A. Berhe

  • GEMA Center for Genomics, Ecology and Environment, Universidad Mayor, Santiago, Chile

    Fernando Alfaro

  • Líneas de Base Públicas, Ministerio del Medio Ambiente, Gobierno de Chile, Santiago, Chile

    Sebastian Abades

  • Institut für Mikrobiologie, Universität Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

    Sigrid Neuhauser

  • Department of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

    Mark A. Williams

  • Australian Tropical Herbarium, James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland, Australia

    Daniel Montesinos

  • College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland, Australia

    Daniel Montesinos

  • Centre for Functional Ecology, Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

    Daniel Montesinos

  • Institute of Hydrobiology, Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic

    Petr Macek

  • Chair of Biodiversity and Nature Tourism, Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Tartu, Estonia

    Petr Macek & Lauri Laanisto

  • Laboratorio de Biodiversidad y Funcionamiento Ecosistémico, Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Sevilla (IRNAS) CSIC, Seville, Spain

    Miriam Muñoz-Rojas & Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo

  • School of Life Sciences, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV, USA

    Raúl Román

  • Department of Agronomy, University of Almería, Almería, Spain

    Raúl Román

  • Centre for Applied Ecology ‘Prof. Baeta Neves’ (CEABN‑InBIO), School of Agriculture, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal

    Borja Rodriguez Lozano

    • M.D.-B., B.K.S., F.T.M., H.C., T.S.-S. and K.F. developed the original idea of the analyses presented in the paper. Methodology was developed by M.D.-B., T.S.-S., K.F., H.C., F.T.M., B.K.S., B.M., J.X., Y.Z., C.X., J.W., J.L. and E.G. The investigation and sampling were carried out by a large team including M.D.-B., K.F., H.C., T.S.-S., F.T.M., B.K.S., B.M., J.X., Y.Z., D.J.E., A.G., C.X., E.G., N.G., Y.L.B.-P., V.O., M.G.-G., E.V., J.J.G., S. Asensio, B.J.M., J.M.-V., B.G., J.W., J.L., S.K.T., L.H.F., J.S., A. Fajardo, J.P.M., C.I.E., E.G.-M., O.V., B.D., E.Z., B.B., B.E., N.B., K.G., L.W., G.M.-K., E.M., P.L., J.D., A. Rodríguez, A.N., C.B., P.C.R., M.A.L., A.L., F.S., T.M., G.R.N., J.R., A.S., G.M., M.V., Y.P., A. Fajardo, P.J.R., A.M., M. Bowker, A.D.-N., H.L.T., A.d.l.R., J.L.B.P., T.U.N., T.G., M. Berdugo, C.P., A. Rey, S.C.H., F.A., S. Abades, S.N., M.A.W., A.A.B., D.M., P.M., L.L., M.M.-R., R.R. and B.R.L. Project administration was overseen by M.D.-B., H.C., B.K.S., F.T.M., B.M. and Y.Z. Supervision was provided by M.D.-B., B.K.S., F.T.M., H.C. and T.S.-S. The original draft was written by K.F., T.S.-S., H.C., M.D.-B., F.T.M., B.K.S. and D.J.E. and revised with contributions from all co-authors.