Zoom into Soil: Soil Biodiversity

Welcome to the Zoom into Soil: Soil Biodiversity webinar from the British Society of Soil Science (BSSS).

Join Professor Tom Crowther, an ecologist in the Department of Environmental Systems Science at ETH Zurich and Dr Lisa Cole, a Research Fellow at the University of Aberdeen, for this webinar as they discuss the topic of soil biodiversity.

Our first speaker is Tom Crowther, an ecologist and professor in the Department of Environmental Systems Science at ETH Zurich. His research focuses on soil biodiversity at a global scale, and its links with plant productivity, carbon storage and climate. The goal of this research is to generate a wholisting, scientific understanding of ecological systems to facilitate the conservation and restoration of nature across the globe. Tom is the founder of Restor, a science-based open data platform that provides ecological insights, transparency and connectivity to many conservation and restoration efforts around the world. Tom serves as chair of the advisory board of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration and chief scientific advisor to the UN’s Trillion Trees Campaign.

Our second speaker is Dr Lisa Cole, a Research Fellow at the University of Aberdeen and a Member of the British Society of Soil Science. Lisa is a soil ecologist interested in how global change impacts upon soil biodiversity and ecosystem function. Her current research examines how land use influences the soil microbiome and the consequences of this for nutrient cycling, in particular the soil carbon response. Lisa will be talking about microbial mechanisms in climate-soil feedbacks and how microbes can help us incorporate more carbon into soils as stable forms of soil organic matter. She will also describe an ongoing laboratory study that addresses whether soil management alters soil properties that benefit certain microbes to improve its function, or whether microbes can be introduced to improve soil’s ability to store more soil carbon.