Current conservation practices in farmlands may be good for species living above the earth such as birds and bees, but are probably not helping life belowground, researchers from the German Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Center report in Nature Communications. They found that soil biodiversity of agricultural meadows and pastures is highest when they are surrounded by a lot of long-standing forest. In contrast, a less intensive use of the meadows and pastures themselves and diverse surroundings—which are the primary management strategies to promote agro-biodiversity—have little effect on the diversity of organisms living belowground.