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2025 HALDANE PRIZE SHORTLIST: Haldane Prize 2025 | Jiangnan Li discusses the paper “Linking rock outcrop size and distance to soil multifunctionality in mountain ecosystems“, which has been shortlisted for Functional Ecology’s 2025 Haldane Prize for Early Career Researchers.

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About the Paper

In our paper, we investigate how rock outcrop size and distance influence soil multifunctionality in mountain ecosystems. We aim to understand how these factors affect key soil functions, such as nutrient provisioning, microbial growth, and soil organic matter decomposition.

We were surprised to find that soil multifunctionality followed a hump-shaped curve with increasing rock size. We expected a continuous increase in multifunctionality with larger rocks, but medium-sized rocks showed the most significant effects. Our challenge was that we have not yet fully revealed the mechanisms behind the interaction between rocks and soil. While we observed significant effects on soil functions, understanding the underlying processes remains a key area for further exploration.

Our next step will be to investigate how soil microbial food webs influence rock weathering and how the products of weathering feedback into soil carbon sequestration. This will help us understand the broader ecological impacts of rock outcrops on soil functions.

Our findings highlight the importance of considering rock outcrop size and distance in ecosystem management, particularly in mountain regions. Understanding their role in soil fertility can inform conservation strategies and enhance policies aimed at restoring and preserving mountain ecosystems.

About the author

I was introduced to ecology by my supervisor, Researcher Jie Zhao, who guided me into the field and sparked my interest in ecological research. I am currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

I am continuing research related to my paper. Specifically, I am exploring how soil microbial food webs influence rock weathering and how weathering products feedback into soil carbon sequestration.

My advice for other researchers in my field would be: ‘Rocks are an important component of mountain ecosystems, and the rock-soil interface is the most active area for microbial and material transformations. Future research should focus on strengthening our understanding of these interactions and their broader ecological implications.’

Read the full list of articles shortlisted for the 2024 Haldane Prize here.