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Additional file 1. Contains Tables S1-S4 and Figures S1-S6, providing further information on data sources, model structures and results of sensitivity analyses.

This dataset comprises 1,040,752 measurements, collated from 9,544 sampling locations in 46 countries and representing 10,635 species. The data was collated from 115 existing spatial comparisons of local-scale biodiversity exposed to different intensities and types of anthropogenic pressures, from terrestrial sites around the world. The database was assembled as part of the PREDICTS project - Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems; https://www.nhm.ac.uk/our-science/our-work/biodiversity/predicts.html This release is an addition to the data presented with The 2016 release of the PREDICTS database (available on the NHM Data Portal: https://data.nhm.ac.uk/dataset/the-2016-release-of-the-predicts-database).

The site-level data frame and code to reproduce models in Burton et al. Land use and soil characteristics affect soil organisms differently from above-ground assemblages. Human activities, particularly land-use change and habitat degradation, are driving major changes in biodiversity worldwide. However, studies of such effects have overwhelmingly focused on above-ground taxa: the effects on soil biodiversity are less well known, despite the importance of soil organisms in developing soil structure, nutrient cycling and water drainage. Modelling data collated as part of the Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity in Changing Terrestrial Systems (PREDICTS) project, we compared how the abundance of soil-dwelling and above-ground organisms responded to land-use and soil properties. We found that land use affects overall abundance differently in soil and above-ground assemblages. Abundance of soil organisms was markedly lower in cropland and plantation habitats than in primary vegetation and pasture. Soil properties influenced the overall abundance of soil biota in ways that differed among land uses, suggesting they shape both abundance and its response to land use. Soil properties also influenced the response of above-ground assemblages, but in ways that differed from their influence on soil assemblages. Our results caution against assuming that models or indicators derived from above-ground data can apply to soil assemblages, and highlight the potential value of incorporating soil properties into models of both soil and above-ground biodiversity.

This study investigates the effect of the enrichment of Scots pine stands with a common beech understorey on changes in the species composition and selected life traits of an important zooindicator group, such as the ground beetles (Col. Carabidae). The field investigations were carried out in a fresh coniferous forest in the Myszyniec Forest District (N Poland) in stands with (P+) and without (P) beech in the understorey. Each treatment was repeated four times. In each repetition, six pitfalls were installed. The traps were replaced 13 times, every two weeks, from April to October. In total, 4412 specimens classified into 25 species of ground beetles were captured. The tree stands with the beech understorey were observed to contain a significantly higher number of species than the ones with the beech undergrowth. Also, the value of the Shannon index of species diversity (H’) and mean individual biomass (MIB) were significantly higher in the treatment with the beech understorey. Principal Component Analysis showed variations in Carabidae assemblages within the analysed types of forest. Pterostichus oblongopunctatus, Pterostichus aethiops and Pterostichus vernalis were more strongly correlated with the stands without beech understorey. The stands enriched with the beech understorey correlated with the occurrence of large zoophages: Carabus arvensis and Cychrus caraboides, and hemizoophages of the genus Amara. An in−depth ecological characterisation of the captured Carabidae showed that the dominant ground beetles in the investigated forest habitats, in terms of the number of caught individuals and species, belonged to forest zoophagous carabids characterised by moderate requirements for moisture in a habitat, and having the spring type of development. Representatives of large zoophages and species with the autumn type of development, i.e. species associated with later ecological succession stages, were more numerously caught in the pine stands without the beech understorey The study provides evidence that justifies the planting of deciduous undergowth in monoculture coniferous pine tree forests. The presence of an understorey contributes to higher: richness of Carabidae species, values of the MIB and abundance of large forest species presenting the autumn type of development, that is the species, which are characteristic for forest areas representing a highly advanced succession stage., Sylwan 163 (4): 311-319