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Forests can buffer the understory against temperature extremes often creating cooler microclimates during warm summer days compared to temperatures outside the forest. The buffering of maximum temperatures in the understory results from a combination of canopy shading and air cooling through soil water evaporation and plant transpiration. Therefore, buffering capacity of forests depends on canopy cover and soil moisture content, which are increasingly threatened by more frequent and severe canopy disturbances and soil droughts. The extent to which this buffering will be maintained in future conditions is unclear due to the lack of understanding about the relationship between soil moisture and air temperature buffering in interaction with canopy cover and topographic settings. We explored how soil moisture variability affects temperature offsets between outside and inside the forest on a daily basis, using temperature and soil moisture data from 57 sites in temperate broadleaved forests in Central Europe over four climatically different summer seasons. Daily maximum temperatures in forest understories were on average 2°C cooler than outside temperatures. The buffering of understory temperatures was more effective when soil moisture was higher, and the offsets were more sensitive to soil moisture on sites with drier soils and on sun-exposed slopes with high topographic heat load. Based on these results, it can be expected that, in a warmer climate with longer dry periods, the soil-water limitation of forest buffering will become more prevalent and will likely lead to changes in understory communities. Our results support the inclusion of soil moisture in models and predictions of forest microclimate, understory biodiversity and tree regeneration, aiming to provide a more precise estimate of the effects of climate change., This research was funded by FORMAS [project 2021-01993 to CG], the Czech Science Foundation [projects GACR 20-28119S and GACR 23-06614S] and the Czech Academy of Sciences [project RVO 67985939]. We thank everyone helping with the data collection.

Microclimate science has developed into a global discipline. Microclimate science is increasingly used to understand and mitigate climate and biodiversity shifts. Here, we provide an overview of the current status of microclimate ecology and biogeography, and where this field is heading next. We showcase the recent advances in data acquisition, such as novel field sensors and remote sensing methods. We discuss microclimate modelling, mapping, and data processing, including accessibility of modelling tools, advantages of mechanistic and statistical modelling, and solutions for computational challenges that have pushed the state-of-the-art of the field. We highlight the latest research on interactions between microclimate and organisms, including how microclimate influences individuals, and through them populations, communities, and entire ecosystems and their processes. We also briefly discuss recent research on how organisms shape microclimate from the tropics to the poles. Microclimates are also important in ecosystem management under climate change. We showcase new research in microclimate management with examples from biodiversity conservation, forestry, and urban ecology. We discuss the importance of microrefugia in conservation and how to promote microclimate heterogeneity. We identify major knowledge gaps that need to be filled for further advancing microclimate methods, investigations, and applications. These gaps include spatiotemporal scaling of microclimate data, mismatches between macroclimate and microclimate in predicting responses of organisms to climate change, and the need for more evidence on the outcomes of microclimate management. Biosketch The authors are participants of the Microclimate Ecology and Biogeography conference held in Antwerp, Belgium in 2022. Together they collaboratively wrote this perspective paper that brings together 97 experts and their views on the recent advancements and knowledge gaps in terrestrial microclimate. The paper was coordinated by Julia Kemppinen, Jonas Lembrechts, Koenraad Van Meerbeek, and Pieter De Frenne, and writing different sections was led by Jofre Carnicer, Nathalie Chardon, Paul Kardol, Jonathan Lenoir, Daijun Liu, Ilya Maclean, Jan Pergl, Patrick Saccone, Rebecca Senior, Ting Shen, Sandra Słowińska, Vigdis Vandvik, and Jonathan von Oppen. For more details on authors statistics and how the work was organised, please see Supplementary information Figures S1-3.

Climate warming is likely to shift the range margins of species poleward, but fine‐scale temperature differences near the ground (microclimates) may modify these range shifts. For example, cold‐adapted species may survive in microrefugia when the climate gets warmer. However, it is still largely unknown to what extent cold microclimates govern the local persistence of populations at their warm range margin. We located 99 microrefugia, defined as sites with edge populations of 12 widespread boreal forest understory species (vascular plants, mosses, liverworts and lichens) in an area of ca. 24,000 km2 along the species' southern range margin in central Sweden. Within each population, a logger measured temperature eight times per day during one full year. Using univariate and multivariate analyses, we examined the differences of the populations' microclimates with the mean and range of microclimates in the landscape, and identified the typical climate, vegetation and topographic features of these habitats. Comparison sites were drawn from another logger data set (n = 110), and from high‐resolution microclimate maps. The microrefugia were mainly places characterized by lower summer and autumn maximum temperatures, late snow melt dates and high climate stability. Microrefugia also had higher forest basal area and lower solar radiation in spring and autumn than the landscape average. Although there were common trends across northern species in how microrefugia differed from the landscape average, there were also interspecific differences and some species contributed more than others to the overall results. Our findings provide biologically meaningful criteria to locate and spatially predict potential climate microrefugia in the boreal forest. This opens up the opportunity to protect valuable sites, and adapt forest management, for example, by keeping old‐growth forests at topographically shaded sites. These measures may help to mitigate the loss of genetic and species diversity caused by rear‐edge contractions in a warmer climate., Sites hosting rear‐edge populations (microrefugia) were mainly places characterized by lower summer and autumn maximum temperatures, late snow melt dates and high climate stability. These places were often topographically shaded and/or densely forested. Our findings provide biologically meaningful criteria to locate and spatially predict potential climate microrefugia in the boreal forest.

Forest microclimates contrast strongly with the climate outside forests. To fully understand and better predict how forests' biodiversity and functions relate to climate and climate change, microclimates need to be integrated into ecological research. Despite the potentially broad impact of microclimates on the response of forest ecosystems to global change, our understanding of how microclimates within and below tree canopies modulate biotic responses to global change at the species, community and ecosystem level is still limited. Here, we review how spatial and temporal variation in forest microclimates result from an interplay of forest features, local water balance, topography and landscape composition. We first stress and exemplify the importance of considering forest microclimates to understand variation in biodiversity and ecosystem functions across forest landscapes. Next, we explain how macroclimate warming (of the free atmosphere) can affect microclimates, and vice versa, via interactions with land-use changes across different biomes. Finally, we perform a priority ranking of future research avenues at the interface of microclimate ecology and global change biology, with a specific focus on three key themes: (1) disentangling the abiotic and biotic drivers and feedbacks of forest microclimates; (2) global and regional mapping and predictions of forest microclimates; and (3) the impacts of microclimate on forest biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in the face of climate change. The availability of microclimatic data will significantly increase in the coming decades, characterizing climate variability at unprecedented spatial and temporal scales relevant to biological processes in forests. This will revolutionize our understanding of the dynamics, drivers and implications of forest microclimates on biodiversity and ecological functions, and the impacts of global changes. In order to support the sustainable use of forests and to secure their biodiversity and ecosystem services for future generations, microclimates cannot be ignored.

A warmer climate will shift species distributional range margins poleward, but near-ground microclimates may modify these shifts. Cold-adapted northern species at their rear edge may survive locally in microrefugia with a colder microclimate, and warm-adapted southern species at their leading edge may colonize stepping stone habitats with a warmer microclimate. However, we do not always know if species ranges are limited by climate and which role microclimate variation plays in modifying range margins. This is especially true for lowland forests, where forest structure and composition have relatively large influences on near-ground microclimates. In this thesis, I explored patterns and drivers of forest microclimate at the southern margin of the boreal zone in central Sweden, where many northern and southern species meet. First, I measured, modelled and mapped near-ground temperatures across ca. 20 000 km2 of forested land (Paper I). Second, I tested if cold and warm microclimates favour northern and southern understory species, respectively. To answer this, I investigated the occurrence and performance patterns of understory vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens across microclimate gradients at the species’ northern or southern range margins (Paper II-IV). I performed both correlational analyses on natural populations and experimental testing with transplanted populations. Third, I derived recommendations and tools for biodiversity conservation and forest management (Paper I-IV). I found high spatial and temporal variation of forest microclimate, which was in the summer mainly linked to differences in forest density and in the cold season to terrain effects (Paper I). Cold and warm microclimates were occupied by natural edge populations of northern and southern species, respectively (Paper II and IV). However, in the transplant experiments with removed competition other factors were more important for the species performance. The southern herb appeared to cope well with the range of microclimate at its current northern range margin and instead seems to be limited by soil and light in northern conifer-dominated forests (Paper IV). The northern transplanted bryophytes and lichens showed no or a positive response to warmer temperature, but also to higher moisture, to more conifers in the overstory and to less gastropod grazing (Paper III). The results indicate that competition with southern species, herbivory, leaf litter and water scarcity might be more important than temperature as direct limiting factors at the species’ current southern range margin. To conclude, microclimate influences the occurrence and performance of range edge populations, but it likely does so indirectly via effects on water availability and biotic interactions. Forest management heavily modifies near-ground temperature and humidity and hence likely impacts the climate-driven range shifts of understory species. I call for considering these effects in conservation and management actions, e.g. by protecting valuable microclimates, moving from clear-cutting to selective logging, reducing forest fragmentation and drainage and favouring either broad-leaved or coniferous trees in the overstory - depending on the local conservation target (Paper I-IV). Climate-change induced biodiversity loss may thus be slowed down by responsible forest management that provides stepping stone habitats for advancing southern species as well as microrefugia for retreating northern species. The defence will be partly or fully streamed via zoom and the zoom-link will be published some days before the defence at https://www.su.se/deep/

Unter dem Titel „Aktuelles zum Moorschutz: Umsetzung in der Niederlausitzer Heidelandschaft und faunistische Aspekte“ fand vom 06. bis zum 08. Juni 2013 die gemeinsame Sektionstagung der DGMT (Sektionen I und V) mit der Landesforst Brandenburg und dem Naturpark Niederlausitzer Heidelandschaft statt. Tagungsort war das Natoureum Maasdorf in der Niederlausitzer Heidelandschaft. Im Vordergrund der Tagung standen der Moorschutz und dessen Umsetzung in der Niederlausitzer Heidelandschaft. Daneben bildeten die faunistischen Aspekte im Moorschutz einen weiteren Schwerpunkt. Für eine klimaneutrale Tagung wurden die für die Veranstaltung verursachten CO2-Emissionen berechnet und durch den Erwerb von 2 MoorFutures Brandenburg ausgeglichen., DFG, SUB Göttingen, DGMT, research

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-km2 resolution 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-km2 pixels (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.

JJL received funding from the Research Foundation Flanders (grant nr. 12P1819N). The project received funding from the Research Foundation Flanders (grants nrs, G018919N, W001919N). JVDH and TWC received funding from DOB Ecology. JA received funding from the University of Helsinki, Faculty of Science (MICROCLIM, grant nr. 7510145) and Academy of Finland Flagship (grant no. 337552). PDF, CM and PV received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (ERC Starting Grant FORMICA 757833). JK received funding from the Arctic Interactions at the University of Oulu and Academy of Finland (318930, Profi 4), Maaja vesitekniikan tuki ry., Tiina and Antti Herlin Foundation, Nordenskiold Samfundet and Societas pro Fauna et Flora Fennica. MK received funding from the Czech Science Foundation (grant nr. 20-28119S) and the Czech Academy of Sciences (grant nr. RVO 67985939). TWC received funding from National Geographic Society grant no. 9480-14 and WW-240R-17. MA received funding from CISSC (program ICRP (grant nr:2397) and INSF (grant nr: 96005914). The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is supported by the Scottish Government's Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services Division. JMA received funding from the Funding Org. Qatar Petroleum (grant nr. QUEX-CAS-QP-RD-18/19). JMA received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant no. 678841) and from the Swiss National Science Foundation (grant no. 31003A_176044). JA was supported by research grants LTAUSA19137 (program INTER-EXCELLENCE, subprogram INTER-ACTION) provided by Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports and 20-05840Y of the Czech Science Foundation. AA was supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (grant FSRZ-2020-0014). SN, UAT, JJA, and JvO received funding from the Independent Research Fund Denmark (7027-00133B). LvdB, KT, MYB and RC acknowledge funding from the German Research Foundation within the Priority Program SPP-1803 'EarthShape: Earth Surface Shaping by Biota' (grant TI 338/14-1&2 and BA 3843/6-1). PB was supported by grant project VEGA of the Ministry of Education of the Slovak Republic and the Slovak Academy of Sciences No. 2/0132/18. Forest Research received funding from the Forestry Commission (climate change research programme). JCB acknowledges the support of Universidad Javeriana. JLBA received funding from the Direccion General de Cambio Climatico del Gobierno de Aragon; JLBA acknowledges fieldwork assistance by Ana Acin, the Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park, and the Servicio de Medio Ambiente de Soria de la Junta de Castilla y Leon. RGB and MPB received funding from BECC - Biodiversity and Ecosystem services in a Changing Climate. MPB received funding from The European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No. 657627 and The Swedish Research Council FORMAS - future research leaders No. 2016-01187. JB received funding from the Czech Academy of Sciences (grant nr. RVO 67985939). NB received funding from the SNF (grant numbers 40FA40_154245, 20FI21_148992, 20FI20_173691, 407340_172433) and from the EU (contract no. 774124). ICOS EU research infrastructure. EU FP7 NitroEurope. EU FP7 ECLAIRE. The authors from Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project, PDBFF, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazonia, Brazil were supported by the MCTI/CNPq/FNDCT - AcAo Transversal no68/2013 - Programa de Grande Escala da Biosfera-Atmosfera na Amazonia - LBA; Project 'Como as florestas da Amazonia Central respondem as variacoes climaticas? Efeitos sobre dinamica florestal e sinergia com a fragmentacAo florestal'. This is the study 829 of the BDFFP Technical Series. to The EUCFLUX Cooperative Research Program and Forest Science and Research Institute-IPEF. NC acknowledges funding by Stelvio National Park. JC was funded by the Spanish government grant CGL2016-78093-R. ANID-FONDECYT 1181745 AND INSTITUTO ANTARTICO CHILENO (INACH FR-0418). SC received funding from the German Research Foundation (grant no. DFG- FZT 118, 202548816). The National Science Foundation, Poland (grant no. UMO-2017/27/B/ST10/02228), within the framework of the 'Carbon dioxide uptake potential of sphagnum peatlands in the context of atmospheric optical parameters and climate changes' (KUSCO2) project. SLC received funding from the South African National Research Foundation and the Australian Research Council. FM, M, KU and MU received funding from Slovak Research and Development Agency (no. APVV-19-0319). Instituto Antartico Chileno (INACH_RT-48_16), Iniciativa Cientifica Milenio Nucleo Milenio de Salmonidos Invasores INVASAL, Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity (IEB), CONICYT PIA APOYO CCTE AFB170008. PC is supported by NERC core funding to the BAS 'Biodiversity, Evolution and Adaptation Team. EJC received funding from the Norwegian Research Council (grant number 230970). GND was supported by NERC E3 doctoral training partnership grant (NE/L002558/1) at the University of Edinburgh and the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland. Monitoring stations on Livingston Island, Antarctica, were funded by different research projects of the Gobern of Spain (PERMAPLANET CTM2009-10165-E; ANTARPERMA CTM2011-15565-E; PERMASNOW CTM2014-52021-R), and the PERMATHERMAL arrangement between the University of Alcala and the Spanish Polar Committee. GN received funding from the Autonomous Province of Bolzano (ITA). The infrastructure, part of the UK Environmental Change Network, was funded historically in part by ScotNature and NERC National Capability LTS-S: UK-SCAPE; NE/R016429/1). JD was supported by the Czech Science Foundation (GA17-19376S) and MSMT (LTAUSA18007). ED received funding from the Kempe Foundation (JCK-1112 and JCK-1822). The infrastructure was supported by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic within the National Sustainability Programme I (NPU I), grant number LO1415 and by the project for national infrastructure support CzeCOS/ICOS Reg. No. LM2015061. NE received funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG- FZT 118, 202548816). BE received funding from the GLORIA-EU project no EVK2-CT2000-00056, the Autonomous Province of Bolzano (ITA), from the Tiroler Wissenschaftsfonds and from the University of Innsbruck. RME was supported by funding to the SAFE Project from the Sime Darby Foundation. OF received funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG- FZT 118, 202548816). EFP was supported by the Jardin Botanico Atlantico (SV-20-GIJON-JBA). MF was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in the context of The Future Okavango (Grant No. 01LL0912) and SASSCAL (01LG1201M; 01LG1201N) projects. EFL received funding from ANID PIA / BASAL FB210006. RAG received funding from Fondecyt 11170516, CONICYT PIA AFB170008 and ANID PIA / BASAL FB210006. MBG received funding from National Parks (DYNBIO, #1656/2015) and The Spanish Research Agency (VULBIMON, #CGL2017-90040-R). MG received funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation (ICOS-CH Phase 2 20FI20_173691). FG received funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG- FZT 118, 202548816). KG and TS received funding from the UK Biotechnology and Biological Research Council (grant = 206/D16053). SG was supported by the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) (project G0H1517N). KJ and PH received funding from the EU Horizon2020 INFRAIA project eLTER-PLUS (871128), the project LTER-CWN (FFG, F&E Infrastrukturforderung, project number 858024) and the Austrian Climate Research Program (ACRP7 - CentForCSink - KR14AC7K11960). SH and ARB received funding through iDiv funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG- FZT 118, 202548816). LH received funding from the Czech Science Foundation (grant nr. 20-28119S) and the Czech Academy of Sciences (grant nr. RVO 67985939). MH received funding from the Baden-Wurttemberg Ministry of Science, Research and Arts via the project DRIeR (Drought impacts, processes and resilience: making the in-visible visible). LH received funding from International Polar Year, Weston Foundation, and ArcticNet. DH received funding from Natural Sciences and Engineering Council (Canada) (RGPIN-06691). TTH received funding from Independent Research Fund Denmark (grant no. 8021-00423B) and Villum Foundation (grant no. 17523). Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic (projects LM2015078, VAN2020/01 and CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_013/0001708). KH, CG and CJD received funding from Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University and from the Swedish research council Formas [grant n:o 2014-00530 to KH]. JJ received funding from the Funding Org. Swedish Forest Society Foundation (grant nr. 2018-485-Steg 2 2017) and Swedish Research Council FORMAS (grant nr. 2018-00792). AJ received funding from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research BMBF (Grant Nr. FKZ 031B0516C SUSALPS) and the Oberfrankenstiftung (Grant Nr. OFS FP00237). ISJ received funding from the Energy Research Fund (NYR-11 - 2019, NYR-18 - 2020). TJ was supported by a UK NERC Independent Research Fellowship (grant number: NE/S01537X/1). RJ received funding from National Science Centre of Poland (grant number: 2016/21/B/ST10/02271) and Polish National Centre for Research and Development (grant number: Pol-Nor/203258/31/2013). VK received funding from the Czech Academy of Sciences (grant nr. RVO 67985939). AAK received funding from MoEFCC, Govt of India (AICOPTAX project F. No. 22018/12/2015/RE/Tax). NK received funding from FORMAS (grants nr. 2018-01781, 2018-02700, 2019-00836), VR, support from the research infrastructure ICOS-SE. BK received funding from the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund of Hungary (grant nr. K128441). Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic (projects LM2015078 and CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_013/0001708). Project B1-RNM-163-UGR-18-Programa Operativo FEDER 2018, partially funded data collection. Norwegian Research Council (NORKLIMA grants #184912 and #244525) awarded to Vigdis Vandvik. MM received funding from the Czech Science Foundation (grant nr. 20-28119S) and the Czech Academy of Sciences (grant nr. RVO 67985939). Project CONICYT-PAI 79170119 and ANID-MPG 190029 awarded to Roy Mackenzie. This work was partly funded by project MIUR PON Cluster OT4CLIMA. RM received funding from the SNF project number 407340_172433. FM received funding from the Stelvio National Park. PM received funding from AIAS-COFUND fellowship programme supported by the Marie Skodowska- Curie actions under the European Union's Seventh Framework Pro-gramme for Research, Technological development and Demonstration (grant agreement no 609033) and the Aarhus University Research Foundation, Denmark. RM received funding from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic (project LTT17033). SM and VM received funding from EU FP6 NitroEurope (grant nr. 17841), EU FP7 ECLAIRE (grant nr. 282910), the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine (projects nr. 505, 550, 574, 602), GEF-UNEP funded "Toward INMS" project (grant nr. NEC05348) and ENI CBC BSB PONTOS (grant nr. BSB 889). The authors from Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project, PDBFF, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazonia, Brazil were supported by the MCTI/CNPq/FNDCT - AcAo Transversal no68/2013 - Programa de Grande Escala da Biosfera-Atmosfera na Amazonia - LBA; Project 'Como as florestas da Amazonia Central respondem as variacoes climaticas? Efeitos sobre dinamica florestal e sinergia com a fragmentacAo florestal'. FJRM was financially supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (VICI grant 016.VICI.170.072) and Research Foundation Flanders (FWO-SBO grant S000619N). STM received funding from New Frontiers in Research Fund-Exploration (grant nr. NFRF-2018-02043) and NSERC Discovery. MMR received funding from the Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Research Award (grant nr. DE180100570). JAM received funding from the National Science Foundation (DEB 1557094), International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability (I-CARES) at Washington University in St. Louis, ForestGEO, and Tyson Research Center. IM-S was funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council through the ShrubTundra Project (NE/M016323/1). MBN received funding from FORMAS, VR, Kempe Foundations support from the research infrastructures ICOS and SITES. MDN received funding from CONICET (grant nr. PIP 112-201501-00609). Spanish Ministry of Science grant PID2019-110521GB-I00 and Catalan government grant 2017-1005. French National Research Agency (ANR) in the frame of the Cluster of Excellence COTE (project HydroBeech, ANR-10-LABX-45). VLIR-OUS, under the Institutional University Coorperation programme (IUC) with Mountains of the Moon University. Project LAS III 77/2017/B entitled: \"Estimation of net carbon dioxide fluxes exchanged between the forest ecosystem on post-agricultural land and between the tornado-damaged forest area and the atmosphere using spectroscopic and numerical methods\", source of funding: General Directorate of State Forests, Warsaw, Poland. Max Planck Society (Germany), RFBR, Krasnoyarsk Territory and Krasnoyarsk Regional Fund of Science, project number 20-45-242908. Estonian Research Council (PRG609), and the European Regional Development Fund (Centre of Excellence EcolChange). Canada-Denmark Arctic Research Station Early Career Scientist Exchange Program, from Polar knowledge Canada (POLAR) and the Danish Agency for Science and Higher Education. AP received funding from Fondecyt 1180205, CONICYT PIA AFB170008 and ANID PIA / BASAL FB210006. MP received funding from the Funding Org. Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (grant nr. 2015.0047), and acknowledges funding from the Swedish Research Council (VR) with contributing research institutes to both the SITES and ICOS Sweden infrastructures. JP and RO were funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science grant PID2019-110521GB-I00, the fundacion Ramon Areces grant ELEMENTAL-CLIMATE, and the Catalan government grant 2017-1005. MPB received funding from the Svalbard Environmental Protection Fund (grant project number 15/128) and the Research Council of Norway (Arctic Field Grant, project number 269957). RP received funding from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic (grant INTER-TRANSFER nr. LTT20017). LTSER Zone Atelier Alpes; Federation FREE-Alpes. RP received funding from a Humboldt Fellowship for Experienced Researchers. Prokushkin AS and Zyryanov VI contribution has been supported by the RFBR grant #18-05-60203-Arktika. RPu received founding from the Polish National Science Centre (grant project number 2017/27/B/NZ8/00316). ODYSSEE project (ANR-13-ISV7-0004, PN-II-ID-JRP-RO-FR-2012). KR was supported through an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship. Fieldwork was supported by the Global Challenges program at the University of Wollongong, the ARC the Australian Antarctic Division and INACH. DR was funded by the project SUBANTECO IPEV 136 (French Polar Institute Paul-Emile Victor), Zone Atelier CNRS Antarctique et Terres Australes, SAD Region Bretagne (Project INFLICT), BiodivERsa 2019-2020 BioDivClim call 'ASICS' (ANR-20-EBI5-0004). SAR received funding from the Australian Research Council. NSF grant #1556772 to the University of Notre Dame. Pavia University (Italy). OR received funding from EU-LEAP-Agri (RAMSES II), EU-DESIRA (CASSECS), EU-H2020 (SustainSahel), AGROPOLIS and TOTAL Foundations (DSCATT), CGIAR (GLDC). AR was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (Grant 18-74-10048). Parc national des Ecrins. JS received funding from Vetenskapsradet grant nr (No: 2014-04270), ALTER-net multi-site grant, River LIFE project (LIFE08 NAT/S/000266), Flexpeil. Helmholtz Association long-term research program TERENO (Terrestrial Environmental Observatories). PS received funding from the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education (grant nr. N N305 304840). AS acknowledges funding by ETH Zurich project FEVER ETH-27 19-1. LSC received funding from NSERC Canada Graduate Scholarship (Doctoral) Program; LSC was also supported by ArcticNet-NCE (insert grant #). Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (141513/2017-9); FundacAo Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (E26/200.84/2019). ZS received funding from the SRDA (grants nos. APVV-16-0325 and APVV-20-0365) and from the ERDF (grant no. ITMS 313011S735, CE LignoSilva). JS, MB and CA received funding from core budget of ETH Zurich. State excellence Program M-V \"WETSCAPES\". AfricanBioServices project funded by the EU Horizon 2020 grant number 641918. The authors from KIT/IMK-IFU acknowledge the funding received within the German Terrestrial Environmental Observatories (TERENO) research program of the Helmholtz Association and from the Bavarian Ministry of the Environment and Public Health (UGV06080204000). Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation), project number 192626868, in the framework of the collaborative German-Indonesian research project CRC 990 (SFB): 'EFForTS, Ecological and Socioeconomic Functions of Tropical Lowland Rainforest Transformation Systems (Sumatra, Indonesia)'. MS received funding from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic (grant nr. INTER-TRANSFER LTT19018). TT received funding from the Swedish National Space Board (SNSB Dnr 95/16) and the CASSECS project supported by the European Union. HJDT received funding from the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC doctoral training partnership grant NE/L002558/1). German Science Foundation (DFG) GraKo 2010 \"Response\". PDT received funding from the MEMOIRE project (PN-III-P1-1.1-PD2016-0925). Arctic Challenge for Sustainability II (ArCS II; JPMXD1420318865). JU received funding from Czech Science Foundation (grant nr. 21-11487S). TU received funding from the Romanian Ministry of Education and Research (CCCDI - UEFISCDI -project PN-III-P2-2.1-PED-2019-4924 and PN2019-2022/19270201-Ctr. 25N BIODIVERS 3-BIOSERV). AV acknowledge funding from RSF, project 21-14-00209. GFV received funding from the Dutch Research Council NWO (Veni grant, no. 863.14.013). Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Research Award DE140101611. FGAV received funding from the Portuguese Science Foundation (FCT) under CEECIND/02509/2018, CESAM (UIDP/50017/2020+UIDB/50017/2020), FCT/MCTES through national funds, and the co-funding by the FEDER, within the PT2020 Partnership Agreement and Compete 2020. Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park. MVI received funding from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through a doctoral grant (FPU17/05869). JW received funding from the Czech Science Foundation (grant nr. 20-28119S) and the Czech Academy of Sciences (grant nr. RVO 67985939). CR and SW received funding from the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) and the de Giacomi foundation. YY received funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant no. 41861134039 and 41941015). ZY received funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nr. 41877458). FZ received funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation (grant nr. 172198 and 193645). PZ received funding from the Funding Org. Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (grant no. 2015.0047). JL received funding from (i) the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR), under the framework of the young investigators (JCJC) funding instrument (ANR JCJC Grant project NoANR-19-CE32-0005-01: IMPRINT) (ii) the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) (Defi INFINITI 2018: MORFO); and the Structure Federative de Recherche (SFR) Condorcet (FR CNRS 3417: CREUSE). Fieldwork in the Arctic got facilitated by funding from the EU INTERACT program. SN, UAT, JJA and JvO would like to thank the field team of the Vegetation Dynamics group for their efforts and hard work. We acknowledge Dominique Tristan for letting access to the field. For the logistic support the crew of INACH and Gabriel de Castilla Station team on Deception Island. We thank the Inuvialuit and Kluane First Nations for the opportunity to work on their land. MAdP acknowledges fieldwork assistance and logistics support to Unidad de Tecnologia Marina CSIC, and the crew of Juan Carlos I and Gabriel de Castilla Spanish Antarctic Stations, as well as to the different colleagues from UAH that helped on the instrument maintenance. ERF acknowledges fieldwork assistance by Martin Heggli. MBG acknowledges fieldwork and technical assistance by P Abadia, C Benede, P Bravo, J Gomez, M Grasa, R Jimenez, H Miranda, B Ponz, J Revilla and P Tejero and the Ordesa and Monte Perdido National Park staff. LH acknowledges field assistance by John Jacobs, Andrew Trant, Robert Way, Darroch Whitaker; we acknowledge the Inuit of Nunatsiavut, and the Co-management Board of Torngat Mountains National Park for their support of this project and acknowledge that the field research was conducted on their traditional lands. We thank our many bear guides, especially Boonie, Eli, Herman, John and Maria Merkuratsuk. AAK acknowledges field support of Akhtar Malik, Rameez Ahmad. Part of microclimatic records from Saxony was funded by the Saxon Switzerland National Park Administration. Tyson Research Center. JP acknowledges field support of Emmanuel Malet (Edytem) and Rangers of Reserves Naturelles de Haute-Savoie (ASTERS). Practical help: Roel H. Janssen, N. Huig, E. Bakker, Schools in the tepaseforsoket, Forskar fredag, Erik Herberg. The support by the Bavarian Forest National Park administration is highly appreciated. LvdB acknowledges CONAF and onsite support from the park rangers from PN Pan de Azucar, PN La Campana, PN Nahuelbuta and from communidad agricola Quebrada de Talca. JL and FS acknowledge Manuel Nicolas and all forest officers from the Office National des Forets (ONF) who are in charge of the RENECOFOR network and who provided help and local support for the installation and maintenance of temperature loggers in the field., 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-km2 resolution 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-km2 p ixels ( summarized f rom 8 519 u nique t emperature 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., FWO G018919N W001919N 12P1819N, DOB Ecology, University of Helsinki, Faculty of Science (MICROCLIM) 7510145, European Research Council (ERC) FORMICA 757833, Arctic Interactions at the University of Oulu, Academy of Finland 318930 337552, Maaja vesitekniikan tuki ry., Tiina and Antti Herlin Foundation, Nordenskiold Samfundet, Societas pro Fauna et Flora Fennica, Grant Agency of the Czech Republic 20-28119S 20-05840Y GA17-19376S 21-11487S, Czech Academy of Sciences RVO 67985939, National Geographic Society 9480-14 WW-240R-17, CISSC (program ICRP) 2397, Iran National Science Foundation (INSF) 96005914, Scottish Government's Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services Division, Qatar Petroleum QUEX-CAS-QP-RD-18/19, European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program 678841, Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), European Commission 172198 193645 31003A_176044, Ministry of Education, Youth & Sports - Czech Republic LTAUSA19137, Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation FSRZ-2020-0014, Independent Research Fund Denmark 8021-00423B 7027-00133B, German Research Foundation (DFG) DFG- FZT 118 202548816 TI 338/14-1 TI 338/14-2 BA 3843/6-1, grant project VEGA of the Ministry of Education of the Slovak Republic Slovak Academy of Sciences 2/0132/18, Forestry Commission, Universidad Javeriana, Direccion General de Cambio Climatico del Gobierno de Aragon, European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skodowska-Curie Grant 657627 SNF 407340_172433 40FA40_154245 20FI21_148992 20FI20_173691, European Commission 17841 774124, MCTI/CNPq/FNDCT 68/2013, Project 'Como as florestas da Amazonia Central respondem as variacoes climaticas? Efeitos sobre dinamica florestal e sinergia com a fragmentacAo florestal', Spanish Government, European Commission CGL2016-78093-R, ANID-FONDECYT 1181745, National Science Foundation, Poland UMO-2017/27/B/ST10/02228, National Research Foundation - South Africa, Australian Research Council, Slovak Research and Development Agency APVV-19-0319, Instituto Antartico Chileno INACH_RT-48_16 INACH FR-0418, Comision Nacional de Investigacion Cientifica y Tecnologica (CONICYT) PIA APOYO CCTE AFB170008 PIA AFB170008, UK Research & Innovation (UKRI), Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Research Council of Norway, European Commission 230970, NERC E3 doctoral training partnership grant at the University of Edinburgh NE/L002558/1, Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, Gobern of Spain PERMAPLANET CTM2009-10165-E ANTARPERMA CTM2011-15565-E PERMASNOW CTM2014-52021-R, University of Alcala, Spanish Polar Committee, Autonomous Province of Bolzano (ITA), ScotNature, NERC National Capability LTS-S: UK-SCAPE NE/R016429/1, Ministry of Education, Youth & Sports - Czech Republic LTAUSA18007, Kempe Foundation JCK-1112 JCK-1822, Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic within the National Sustainability Programme I (NPU I) LO1415, project for national infrastructure support CzeCOS/ICOS LM2015061 GLORIA-EU EVK2-CT2000-00056, Tiroler Wissenschaftsfonds, University of Innsbruck, Sime Darby Foundation, Jardin Botanico Atlantico SV-20-GIJON-JBA, Federal Ministry of Education & Research (BMBF) 01LL0912 01LG1201M 01LG1201N, Comision Nacional de Investigacion Cientifica y Tecnologica (CONICYT) CONICYT FONDECYT 11170516 1180205, ANID PIA / BASAL FB210006, National Parks (DYNBIO) 1656/2015, Spanish Research Agency (VULBIMON) CGL2017-90040-R, Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) 20FI20_173691, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) 206/D16053 FWO G0H1517N, EU Horizon2020 INFRAIA project eLTER-PLUS 871128, project LTER-CWN (FFG, F&E Infrastrukturforderung) 858024, Austrian Climate Research Program ACRP7 - CentForCSink - KR14AC7K11960, iDiv by the German Research Foundation DFG- FZT 118 202548816, Baden-Wurttemberg Ministry of Science, Research and Arts, Weston Foundation, ArcticNet, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) RGPIN-06691, Villum Foundation 17523, Ministry of Education, Youth & Sports - Czech Republic LM2015078 VAN2020/01 CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_013/0001708 LTT17033 LTT20017 INTER-TRANSFER LTT19018, Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, Swedish Research Council Swedish Research Council Formas 2014-00530 2018-00792 2016-01187, Swedish Forest Society Foundation 2018-485-Steg 2 2017, Federal Ministry of Education & Research (BMBF) FKZ 031B0516C SUSALPS, Oberfrankenstiftung OFS FP00237, Energy Research Fund NYR-11 - 2019 NYR-18 - 2020, UK NERC Independent Research Fellowship NE/S01537X/1, National Science Centre, Poland 2016/21/B/ST10/02271, Polish National Centre for Research and Development Pol-Nor/203258/31/2013, MoEFCC, Govt of India (AICOPTAX project) 22018/12/2015/RE/Tax, Swedish Research Council Formas 2018-01781 2018-02700 2019-00836, research infrastructure ICOS-SE, National Research, Development and Innovation Fund of Hungary K128441, Programa Operativo FEDER 2018 B1-RNM-163-UGR-18, Norwegian Research Council (NORKLIMA grants) 184912 244525, CONICYT-PAI 79170119, ANID-MPG 190029, project MIUR PON Cluster OT4CLIMA, Stelvio National Park, AIAS-COFUND fellowship programme - Marie Skodowska- Curie actions under the European Union's Seventh Framework Pro-gramme for Research, Technological development and Demonstration 609033, Aarhus University Research Foundation, Denmark, EU FP6 NitroEurope 17841, EU FP7 ECLAIRE 282910, Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine 505 550 574 602, GEF-UNEP NEC05348, ENI CBC BSB PONTOS BSB 889, Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) 016.VICI.170.072, New Frontiers in Research Fund-Exploration NFRF-2018-02043, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), Australian Research Council DE180100570, National Science Foundation (NSF) DEB 1557094, International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability (I-CARES) at Washington University in St. Louis, Smithsonian Institution Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Tyson Research Center, UK Natural Environment Research Council through the ShrubTundra Project NE/M016323/1, Swedish Research Council Formas Swedish Research Council, Kempe Foundations - research infrastructure ICOS Kempe Foundations - research infrastructure SITES, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas (CONICET) PIP 112-201501-00609, Spanish Government PID2019-110521GB-I00, Catalan government 2017-1005, French National Research Agency (ANR) ANR-10-LABX-45, General Directorate of State Forests, Warsaw, Poland, Max Planck Society, Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR), Krasnoyarsk Territory Krasnoyarsk Regional Fund of Science 20-45-242908, Estonian Research Council PRG609, Knut & Alice Wallenberg Foundation 2015.0047, Swedish Research Council, fundacion Ramon Areces grant ELEMENTAL-CLIMATE, Svalbard Environmental Protection Fund 15/128, Research Council of Norway 269957, Humboldt Fellowship for Experienced Researchers, Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR) 18-05-60203-Arktika, Polish National Science Centre 2017/27/B/NZ8/00316, ODYSSEE project (PN-II-ID-JRP-RO-FR-2012) ANR-13-ISV7-0004, Australian Government, Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, Global Challenges program at the University of Wollongong, ARC the Australian Antarctic Division, INACH, project SUBANTECO IPEV 136 (French Polar Institute Paul-Emile Victor), Zone Atelier CNRS Antarctique et Terres Australes, SAD Region Bretagne (Project INFLICT), BiodivERsa 2019-2020 BioDivClim call 'ASICS' ANR-20-EBI5-0004, National Science Foundation (NSF) 1556772, EU-LEAP-Agri (RAMSES II) EU-DESIRA (CASSECS) EU-H2020 (SustainSahel), AGROPOLIS, Total SA, CGIAR, Russian Science Foundation (RSF) 18-74-10048, Swedish Research Council 2014-04270, ALTER-net multi-site grant, River LIFE project LIFE08 NAT/S/000266, Flexpeil, Ministry of Science and Higher Education, Poland N N305 304840, ETH Zurich FEVER ETH-27 19-1, NSERC Canada Graduate Scholarship (Doctoral) Program, ArcticNet-NCE, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPQ) 141513/2017-9, Fundacao Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado do Rio De Janeiro (FAPERJ) E26/200.84/2019, SRDA APVV-16-0325 APVV-20-0365, ERDF (CE LignoSilva) ITMS 313011S735, ETH Zurich, EU Horizon 2020 641918, German Terrestrial Environmental Observatories (TERENO) research program of the Helmholtz Association, Bavarian Ministry of the Environment and Public Health UGV06080204000 German Research Foundation (DFG) 192626868, Swedish National Space Board (SNSB) 95/16, CASSECS project by the European Union, Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) NE/L002558/1, MEMOIRE project PN-III-P1-1.1-PD2016-0925, Arctic Challenge for Sustainability II (ArCS II) JPMXD1420318865, Consiliul National al Cercetarii Stiintifice (CNCS), Unitatea Executiva pentru Finantarea Invatamantului Superior, a Cercetarii, Dezvoltarii si Inovarii (UEFISCDI) PN-III-P2-2.1-PED-2019-4924 PN2019-2022/19270201, 25N BIODIVERS 3-BIOSERV, Russian Science Foundation (RSF) 21-14-00209., Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) 863.14.013, Australian Research Council DE140101611, Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology CEECIND/02509/2018 CESAM UIDP/50017/2020+UIDB/50017/2020, Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology European Commission, FEDER, within the PT2020 Partnership Agreement, Compete 2020, Spanish Government FPU17/05869, Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), Giacomi foundation, National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) 41861134039 41941015 41877458, French National Research Agency (ANR) ANR-19-CE32-0005-01 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Structure Federative de Recherche (SFR) Condorcet (FR CNRS 3417: CREUSE), EU INTERACT program, Inuit of Nunatsiavut, Co-management Board of Torngat Mountains National Park, Saxon Switzerland National Park Administration, Bavarian Forest National Park administration, BECC - Biodiversity and Ecosystem services in a Changing Climate, Research Foundation Flanders (FWO-SBO) S000619N