Our understanding of global patterns of soil invertebrate diversity lags behind other groups. Recently, the compilation of existing data and collection of new datasets on invertebrates have allowed investigation at larger scales. We compiled an extensive dataset on local species richness of earthworms and tested key drivers such as soil properties. We also used a dataset on soil macrofauna to assess how biodiversity patterns vary across soil and aboveground taxa. Continued work is needed to fill geographic and taxonomic gaps, and to allow an integrated understanding of drivers of soil invertebrate biodiversity and differences in patterns across groups.
