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GSBI Blog

Why should we care about soil biodiversity?

Submitted by bfricks on

Last week a key group of soil biodiversity scientists arrived in Fort Collins with a bang despite a massive snowstorm. Delayed flights, cold temperatures couldn’t keep this group down; they were on a mission to develop a Global Soil Biodiversity Assessment/Atlas on the state of global soil biodiversity.  Soil scientists are some of the most passionate people I’ve ever met and soil biodiversity researchers kick it up a notch.  Soil biodiversity rarely appears in biodiversity assessments, which I believe fuels the desire to put in the extra hours and get educational resources, such as an Atlas, out to the public.

Scratching the surface of soil microbial diversity

Submitted by Kelly S Ramirez on

I recently wrote a post for my blogging group Early Career Ecologists. Briefly, I discuss a recent paper out by Dr. Noah Fierer and colleagues in PNAS, where they used metagenomic techniques to explore soil microbial communities of 16 soils from across 5 biome types. I chose to write about this publication because it exemplifies the amazing progress made in sequencing techniques and microbial ecology in such a short period of time.

What is the GSBI? A brief synopsis of the GSBI’s Past, Present and Future-

Submitted by Kelly S Ramirez on

The GSBI was formed with the goal of uniting scientists across disciplines (soil ecology, soil science, biogeochemistry, agroecology, policy) to convey soil biodiversity research to policy and land managers for global sustainability of ecosystem services. The GSBI looks to link science and policy through the application of rapidly expanding knowledge of soil biodiversity.

Taming the Wilds of Central Park

Submitted by Kelly S Ramirez on

Last week we successfully collected 595 samples from across Central Park in NY City. I described this huge undertaking in my previous post, so you can find out a bit more HERE about collaborators and sampling scheme.

An Unexplored Urban Jungle- Part 1

Submitted by Kelly S Ramirez on

Tomorrow morning a group of soil ecologists will meet on the steps of the American Museum of Natural History to begin a day-long effort to sample the soils of Central Park, New York City. Within soil lives an astounding amount of biological diversity, scaling from microbes to insects and worms that is mostly invisible to the naked eye. One question researchers are interested in is how this biodiversity compares to soils in natural systems-  Yellowstone National Park, for example.

Successful trip for the GSBI at RIO+20

Submitted by Kelly S Ramirez on

 
This last week Diana Wall, Science Chair and Kelly Ramirez, Executive Director of the Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative (GSBI) Secretariat attended the UN Conference on Global Sustainability, RIO+20. The GSBI was fortunate to have Drs. George Brown and Heitor Coutino of Embrapa in Brazil organize a very successful side event- “Towards a Truly Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative”. (More details to follow on our website.)

GSBI @ PuP: Day 2 & 3

Submitted by Kelly S Ramirez on

Day 2 & 3:

The tones of urgency, warning and directness are presented repeatedly- no matter the subject. Still, there is a collective optimism (lead by Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom) and determination, suggesting that this meeting really will initiate the changes we need to see to mediate climate change and reduce biodiversity losses. The goal for GSBI is to integrate soil biodiversity into the conversation.

Some important questions/ideas/thoughts:

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