Research in global change ecology relies heavily on global climatic grids derived from estimates of air temperature in open areas at around 2 m above the ground. These climatic grids do not reflect conditions below vegetation canopies and near the ground surface, where critical ecosystem functions occur and most terrestrial species reside. Here, we provide global maps of soil temperature and bioclimatic variables at a 1‐km²resolution for 0–5 and 5–15 cm soil depth. These maps were created by calculating the difference (i.e. offset) between in situ soil temperature measurements, based on time series from over 1200 1‐km²pixels (summarized from 8519 unique temperature sensors) across all the world's major terrestrial biomes, and coarse‐grained air temperature estimates from ERA5‐Land (an atmospheric reanalysis by the European Centre for Medium‐Range Weather Forecasts). We show that mean annual soil temperature differs markedly from the corresponding gridded air temperature, by up to 10°C (mean = 3.0 ± 2.1°C), with substantial variation across biomes and seasons. Over the year, soils in cold and/or dry biomes are substantially warmer (+3.6 ± 2.3°C) than gridded air temperature, whereas soils in warm and humid environments are on average slightly cooler (−0.7 ± 2.3°C). The observed substantial and biome‐specific offsets emphasize that the projected impacts of climate and climate change on near‐surface biodiversity and ecosystem functioning are inaccurately assessed when air rather than soil temperature is used, especially in cold environments. The global soil‐related bioclimatic variables provided here are an important step forward for any application in ecology and related disciplines. Nevertheless, we highlight the need to fill remaining geographic gaps by collecting more in situ measurements of microclimate conditions to further enhance the spatiotemporal resolution of global soil temperature products for ecological applications.

This study investigates the impact of two months of drought stress on the microbial diversity, enzyme activities and functional diversity in four agricultural soils (Gniewkowo (G); Lulkowo (L); Nieszawa (N); Suchatówka (S)) from Poland during summer season. The physicochemical parameters (pH, organic carbon, calcium carbonate, total nitrogen, nitrate, ammonium, total phosphorus and available phosphate), microbial abundance, community-level physiological profiling, and soil enzymes (acid and alkaline phosphatases, dehydrogenase and urease) were investigated at two time intervals: zero-week (T0) and the eighth week (T8). Generally, microbial enumeration showed higher bacterial populations (496.63 × 10⁴ CFU g⁻¹ dry soil) compared to actinomycetes (13.43 × 10⁴ CFU g⁻¹ dry soil), and the fungal population was the lowest (67.68 × 10² CFU g⁻¹ dry soil) at T8. Functional diversity showed a strong, statistically significant positive effect in the G, N and S sites at T8. Acidobacteriota and Actinobacteriota declined in most places, while Firmicutes, Crenarchaeota and drought-tolerant bacteria such as Gemmatimonadota exhibited resistance. The fungal communities showed site-specific responses, with an increase in drought-tolerant Mortierellomycota and Chytridiomycota and a decrease in Ascomycota and Basidiomycota, suggesting possible adaptability. Overall, the microbial populations, enzyme activity, and functional diversity were positively correlated with soil moisture content across all four investigated sites. The significance of organic matter, soil structure, and moisture retention in determining microbial resilience to drought is underscored by these changes in microbial diversity and function, which in turn affect nutrient cycling and soil ecosystem stability. The findings of our study indicate that soil biological activities in agricultural regions can be modified by a mere two months of drought.

Extensive areas of inland dunes are commonly overplanted with Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris). However, thus far the pine litterfall has not been investigated in detail in Scots pine stands overgrowing the landforms. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyse the mass and chemical composition of litterfall in a dune Scots pine forest, paying special attention to the differences in the properties of the particular categories of litterfall (needles, twigs, bark, cones, residue) occurring in different seasons. The secondary goal of the research was to investigate the possible effect of contrasting slope aspect on litterfall properties. Litterfall was examined for three years on a north- and south-facing dune slope using the litter trap method. The mass and chemical composition (C, N, P, K, Mg, Mn, Ca, Fe, Al) of each litterfall category was analysed. Average annual mass of litterfall ranged from 322.0 ± 2.6 (slope N) to 361.9 ± 34.2 (slope S) g m⁻² year⁻¹. Fluctuations in the annual concentrations of N, P, K and Mg were determined, which was the result of their gradual withdrawal from needles before they were dropped in autumn. Immobile or poorly mobile elements (i.e., Mn, Ca, Fe and Al) were found to be steadily accumulated during the year in fallen tissues. The studied elements can be set in the following order as regards the annual pools which return to a topsoil with litterfall: C > N > Ca > K > Mg > Mn > Al > P > Fe on slope N and C > Ca > N > K > Mg > Al > P > Mn > Fe on slope S. Despite the fact that the residue (seeds etc.) constitutes a much smaller part of the total litterfall mass than the needles, comparable amounts of N, P, K, Al and Fe return to a topsoil with both these categories. The only element for which we determined differences in concentrations regarding slope aspect was Mn: the concentrations were significantly higher for needles, twigs, bark and cones on the N than the S slope.

Prolonged drought stress may have a significant impact on the structure and activity of the soil microbial community. Our study aims to investigate the impact of short-term drought (2 months) on the microbial community structure, enzymes, and metabolic diversity in four agricultural soils (Gniewkowo (G), Lulkowo (L), Wielka Nieszawka (N) and Suchatówka (S) sites) in Poland. These four types of soil were selected based on differences in their texture (gleyic luvisol Phaeozem in G (rich in clay and humus), stagnic luvisol in L, fluvisol in N and haplic luvisol in S (sandy)). We investigated the (1) number of bacteria, actinomycetes (formally phylum Actinomycetota) and fungi; (2) microbial community (16S rRNA and ITS amplicon regions); (3) biological activity by community-level physiological profiling (CLPP); (4) soil enzyme activities (dehydrogenases (DH), phosphatases (acid ACP and alkaline ALP) and urease (UR)); and (5) soil chemical properties. At the end of our experiment, we observed a significant decrease in soil moisture content with the highest in the soil from the S site. Overall, there was no change in total bacteria, but actinomycetes and fungal numbers increased after the 1st week with a decrease in moisture content. ACP activity decreased in three out of four analyzed soil samples. The exception was in sample G, where activity increased for 1–2 weeks and then decreased. ALP activity significantly increased with a decrease in moisture in the 1st week and was lowest at the end of the experiment. DH activity increased up to the 4th week in the G and N samples and up to the 2nd week in the L and S samples. UR activity showed variations in the analyzed samples. A reduction in the utilization of carbon sources (except D-mannitol and L-asparagine) was noted with the highest reduction in the G sample followed by the L, N and S samples. Thus, the pattern of changes was different depending on the analyzed soil type. The 16S rRNA and ITS amplicon sequencing revealed a decrease in the relative abundance of Pseudomonadota, Basidiomycota, Apicomplexa, and increased abundance of Actinomycetota, Bacillota and Ascomycota under prolonged drought conditions. With this, we concluded that drought conditions resulted in a significant alteration of soil microbial communities, enzyme activities, and metabolic diversity in the investigated soils.

The main aim of this study is to identify trends in peatland management from the end of the nineteenth century to late twentieth century in the Tuchola Pinewoods (TP) located in NW Poland (young glacial zone, temperate climate). The analyses were performed based on the 1:100,000 Prussian topographic maps from the years 1876–1879 and the 1:50,000 Polish topographic maps from the years 1966–1986. A total of 744 peatlands were identified in TP (total area — 10,762 ha, 3.03% of the studied region). Smaller peatlands of up to 1–2 ha were found to be most numerous (15.32% of total number), whereas those exceeding 15 ha cover the largest area (75.42% of total area). The analysis revealed a tendency regarding land management of peatlands in the study period — large peatlands were adapted for agricultural purposes, and the smaller ones were mostly transformed into woodlands. The most important factors influencing the directions of changes in the use of peatlands include as follows: the type of use of the adjacent areas, implementation of anthropogenic drainage systems and location in a lake catchment or a catchment drained by rivers or streams. Considering that 85.7% of total peatland area had been drained by 1986, the risk arising from greenhouse gas emission from peatlands should be regarded as high.