Authors investigated during two consecutive breeding seasons the potential enrichment of the topsoils associated with inland ground-nesting eagle owls, as well as its possible consequences in the growth of two common annual grasses in southern Spain. Owls (and probably other widespread inland predators) can exert subtle effects enhancing plant growth and primary productivity through mechanisms (i.e. nutrient enrichment) other than the well-recognized top-down control of primary consumers. The combined effect of nutrient enrichment by non-colonial birds coupled with direct and indirect seed dispersal is likely to have a strong effect on community assemblage and ecosystem functioning and represents an overlooked avenue of research that certainly deserves further investigation. informacion[at]ebd.csic.es: Fedriani et al (2015) Subtle Gardeners: Inland Predators Enrich Local Topsoils and Enhance Plant Growth. PLoS ONE DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0138273