Check out the latest blog on Beneath Our Feet by Dr. Ting-Wen Chen (Germany/Taiwan)

In GSBI’s second installment of the GSB4 Early Career Researcher series, Dr. Ting-Wen Chen addresses the age-old question, “Why do thousands of animal species thrive in a single patch of soil?” Dr. Chen walks us through traditional approaches to study patterns of soil biodiversity, then proposes a novel framework to integrate disparate approaches. Read the blog to find out how this framework works, and do not miss Dr. Chen’s presentation at GSB4 this April!

Check out the latest blog on Beneath Our Feet by Dr. Sabrina Sadiq (Australia)

In GSBI’s first installment of the GSB4 Early Career Researcher series, Dr. Sabrina Sadiq discusses the path to investigating soil viruses across continents and why there is still so much more to be discovered. Through intensive sampling and metatranscriptomics, Dr. Sadiq uncovers a breadth of novel soil viruses spanning a range of hosts. Read the blog to learn more, and be sure to check out Dr. Sadiq’s presentation at the upcoming GSB4 conference!

Check out the latest blog on Beneath Our Feet by Yijia Tang (Australia)

In GSBI’s latest blog, Yijia Tang and others discuss the major factors driving soil bacterial distributions across Australia. Pairing a widespread sampling campaign with machine learning and digital mapping methods, the study offers novel insight into bacterial diversity hotspots. The findings provide a tool to promote soil microbial conservation across the continent. Read the blog to find out what shapes Australia’s diversity beneath our feet!

Harnessing AI to measure soil biodiversity

September 24, 2025, 6:00 MDT, 8:00 EDT, 13:00 BST, 14:00 CEST

Moderated by Wim van der Putten

Check out the latest blog on Beneath Our Feet by Amelie Hauer (Germany)

In GSBI’s latest blog, Amelie Hauer explores whether soil invertebrates shift their feeding source depending on whether the forest is dominated by arbuscular or ectomycorrhizal fungi in deciduous forests. Using carbon and nitrogen isotopic signatures in amino acids to estimate feeding source and trophic position, the study tracks invertebrate diets (carbon isotopes) and maps their roles within the soil food web (nitrogen isotopes). Read the blog to learn whether mycorrhizal association affects food web structure or if invertebrate identity matters more.

Check out the latest blog on Beneath Our Feet by Dr. Laura Van Galen (Switzerland)

In GSBI’s latest blog, Dr. Laura Van Galen discusses the difficulty dark taxa cause in ectomycorrhizal fungal conservation and research. Dark taxa are DNA sequences that cannot be matched to named species, or even genera or families in some cases. Although current advances in sequencing technology have allowed for rapid detection of fungal taxa, the findings of these results are limited due to incomplete databases that create these dark taxa. Read the blog to learn more about dark taxa and the future of this field.

Check out the latest blog on Beneath Our Feet by Dr. Pankaj Trivedi (USA), Dr. Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo (Spain), and Dr. Brajesh Singh (Australia)

In GSBI's latest blog, Drs. Pankaj Trivedi (USA), Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo (Spain), and Brajesh Singh (Australia) discuss their recent Viewpoint article about synthetic microbial communities (SynComs). They argue that SynComs are a valuable tool for for studying microbial communities and researchers can apply ecological and eco-evolutionary theories to better understand SynComs and their potential uses and benefits.

Check out the latest blog on Beneath Our Feet by Dr. Corentin Bisot (Netherlands)

In GSBI's latest blog, Dr. Corentin Bisot discusses their recent paper in which they show that fungal hyphae tips grow in a wave-like formation, allowing for carbon efficient expansion. Further, they found bi-directional flows of nutrients between plants and fungi through hyphae. Hyphae contain a single tube (or cytoplasm), which makes this finding particularly interesting. This work used a large dataset (100s of TB) and a custom built microscope/ robot to support these findings.

Soil inoculation: Does it work?

March 19, 2025, 9:30 MDT, 11:30 EDT, 15:30 GMT, 16:30 CET

Moderated by Martin Hartmann

Check out the latest blog on Beneath Our Feet by Dr. Stefanie Lutz (Switzerland) and Dr. Marcel van der Heijden (Switzerland)

In GSBI's latest blog, Dr. Stefanie Lutz and Dr. Marcel van der Heijden discuss their recent paper in which they found that the abundance of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are often underestimated. AMF research often focuses on Glomeromycota. However, recent discoveries have shown that the Mucoromycota phylum, in particular the enigmatic Endogonomycetes (E-AMF), also form arbuscule-like structures. Their study used long-read sequencing data from a combination of global field surveys including G-AMG and E-AMF and found significantly higher estimates of AMF richness than previously found.

Remote sensing and sensors to measure soil biodiversity

February 21, 2025, 9:00 MST, 11:00 EST, 16:00 GMT, 17:00 CET

Moderated by Michael Castellano

Check out the latest blog on Beneath Our Feet by Dr. Ademir Araujo (Brazil)

Check out the latest blog on Beneath Our Feet by Dr. César Marín (Chile)

In GSBI’s latest blog, Dr. César Marín discusses natural selection and the theory of Multilevel Selection and how these concepts can be applied to arbuscular mycorrhizae (AM). To explore these ideas, Dr. Marín recently ran a workshop on how natural selection operates across the biological hierarchy in AM systems. A video of the full workshop can be found in the blog.

Check out the latest blog on Beneath Our Feet by Dr. Tara Dirilgen (Ireland)

Check out GSBI's latest blog, where Dr. Tara Dirilgen (Maynooth University, Ireland) discusses the launch of Ireland's first local soil biodiversity network! The first meeting of the network was 26 June 2024 and had 15 attendees across 8 different Irish institutions. The blog also includes tips for starting your own local network. Ask the GSBI for tips or support on starting a local soil biodiversity network.

 “GSBI Speaks”

October Webinar: Dr. Diana H. Wall Remembrance

Check out the latest blog on Beneath Our Feet by Dr. Julia Köninger (Spain)

In GSBI’s latest blog, Dr. Julia Köninger (Universidade de Vigo, Spain) discusses their recent paper where they sought to understand the diversity of soil organisms across 787 sites in Europe. Dr. Köninger’s team analyzed soil DNA to understand which variables drive soil life diversity across different types of ecosystems ranging from croplands to grasslands to woodlands. Surprisingly, they found croplands to host the highest diversity. However, species composition was also most homogeneous there compared to other ecosystems.

Announcing GSBI’s Interim Leadership

Dear GSBI community,

Since Diana Wall's untimely passing, GSBI has been without the leadership of the scientific chair. To fill this gap in leadership, I am pleased to announce that co-founders Wim van der Putten (Netherlands), Johan Six (Switzerland), and Richard Bardgett (United Kingdom) will step in as co-interim scientific chairs for a transitionary period. Together, the GSBI leadership will decide on next steps for GSBI after this interim period. Although GSBI lost both a founder and visionary, GSBI will continue on in her legacy.

Sincerely,

Dr. Leena Vilonen (Executive Director)

Dr. Diana Wall’s Passing

It is with deep sadness that we announce that Diana Wall, GSBI founder and scientific chair, has passed. A staunch champion for soil biodiversity science, Diana founded GSBI as a grassroots organization in 2011 together with Wim van der Putten, Richard Bardgett, Johan Six, and Luca Montanarella to connect scientists and inform policy, education, and the public on soil biodiversity. As the leader of GSBI, Diana prioritized the inclusion of scientists from underrepresented groups, the global South, and early career researchers, and advocated for their access to resources. There are very few scientists who have reached out with the intensity and breadth across their field as she did. Diana Wall placed soil biodiversity on the map.

Diana was tireless in her efforts to build up the GSBI and bring soil biodiversity onto the international policy stage. By 2012 she had secured funding from Colorado State University (CSU), hired an Executive Director, organized an international workshop, was invited to speak at the RIO+20 Convention, and initiated work on the Global Soil Biodiversity Atlas (published in 2016). Over the last decade, Diana encouraged the production of the first Global Soil Biodiversity Assessment (2020), secured GSBI participation in the UN’s Convention on Biological Diversity-COP14 and international monitoring efforts such as the Soil Biodiversity Observation Network (SoilBON) and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Global Soil Biodiversity Observatory (GLOSOB). She spearheaded the creation of the international Global Soil Biodiversity Conferences (Dijon, Nanjing, and Dublin), and during Covid produced ‘GSBI Speaks’ a series of online webinars to keep the global soil biodiversity community connected. 

GSBI Scientific Chair was only one of many scientific roles that Diana held across the field of ecology. We will share additional details about any tributes or celebrations of her life as they become available.

Major decision on Soil Biodiversity monitoring and protection adopted at COP-15 of Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) in Montreal, QC, December 2022

THE PLAN OF ACTION 2020-2030 FOR THE INTERNATIONAL INITIATIVE FOR THE CONSERVATION AND SUSTAINABLE USE OF SOIL BIODIVERSITY

THE GLOBAL SOIL BIODIVERSITY INITIATIVE PARTNERS WITH SOIL BIODIVERSITY OBSERVATION NETWORK (SoilBON)

The first soil biodiversity assessment across the United States has begun in association with the global SoilBON.

GET INVOLVED WITH GSBI!