Soil health is expected to be of key importance for plant growth and ecosystem functioning. However, whether soil health is linked to primary productivity across environmental gradients and land-use types remains poorly understood. To address this gap, we conducted a pan-European field study including 588 sites from 27 countries to investigate the link between soil health and primary productivity across three major land-use types: woodlands, grasslands and croplands. We found that mean soil health (a composite index based on soil properties, biodiversity and plant disease control) in woodlands was 31.4% higher than in grasslands and 76.1% higher than in croplands. Soil health was positively linked to cropland and grassland productivity at the continental scale, whereas climate best explained woodland productivity. Among microbial diversity indicators, we observed a positive association between the richness of Acidobacteria, Firmicutes and Proteobacteria and primary productivity. Among microbial functional groups, we found that primary productivity in croplands and grasslands was positively related to nitrogen-fixing bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi and negatively related to plant pathogens. Together, our results point to the importance of soil biodiversity and soil health for maintaining primary productivity across contrasting land-use types.

预计土壤健康对于植物生长和生态系统功能至关重要。然而，土壤健康是否与环境梯度和土地利用类型的初级生产力相关仍然知之甚少。为了解决这一差距，我们进行了一项泛欧实地研究，包括来自 27 个国家的 588 个地点，以调查三种主要土地利用类型（林地、草原和农田）的土壤健康与初级生产力之间的联系。我们发现，林地的平均土壤健康状况（基于土壤特性、生物多样性和植物病害控制的综合指数）比草原高 31.4%，比农田高 76.1%。土壤健康与大陆尺度的农田和草原生产力呈正相关，而气候最能解释林地生产力。在微生物多样性指标中，我们观察到酸杆菌门、厚壁菌门和变形菌门的丰富度与初级生产力呈正相关。在微生物功能群中，我们发现农田和草原的初级生产力与固氮细菌和菌根真菌呈正相关，与植物病原体呈负相关。总之，我们的结果表明，土壤生物多样性和土壤健康对于在不同土地利用类型中保持初级生产力的重要性。