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18 options + summer 2016 www.iiasa.ac.at
A s we hike along woodland paths, or rush down crowded
sidewalks, we rarely think about the ground beneath
us. Yet under our feet, the soil teems with microbial
life that turns old life into new—breaking down dead
plant and animal material into the nutrients needed
for new growth. This process releases gases like CO2 and
methane that contribute to global warming but on the other
hand soil can also sequester these gases, locking them away and
protecting the planet from future warming. Healthy soil is also
fundamental to farming and vital for clean water. But increasingly,
soils are under pressure.
“Just like birds and animals can be endangered, some
soils are endangered,” said soil scientist Rattan Lal during a
public lecture at IIASA last winter. The question is how resilient
is the soil system? It can recover from many perturbations,
Lal said, but if pushed too far, through erosion, top soil removal,
or unsustainable farming practices, it can reach a tipping point
called “irreversibleÂ
degradation,” transforming the landscape from
verdant farmland to a wind‑blown wasteland in just years.
From the tiniest microbes to the big picture of climate change and
food security, IIASA researchers are exploring how soil works and
interacts with other planetary systems. Their findings suggest that
taking better care of soil can help with mitigating climate change,
protecting biodiversity, and feeding the planet’s growingÂ
population. THE SECRET LIFE OF SOIL
To understand how soil
works at the smallest levels,
IIASA researchers have been developing a
theoretical model of microbial interactions in soil that helps explain
the processes of decomposition and carbon uptake and storage.
In a recent study, Tina Kaiser, a former IIASA postdoctoral
fellow, now an assistant professor at the University of Vienna,
used this model to examine the social interactions between soil
microbes. She showed that microbes that rely on other microbes
around them to make enzymes for digesting plant material can
regulate the rate of decomposition and increase the amount of
microbial remains in the soil. The study identifies a new possible
control mechanism—enabled by social interactions among
individual microbes—that may help to explain the massive reservoir
of carbon and other nutrients in soil.
“The unique thing about this model is that it simulates the
life and death of individual microorganisms in a tiny space,
andÂ
can encompass the positive and negative influences between
neighboring microbes,” says Kaiser. “In contrast to a traditional
soil decomposition model, our model can elucidate mechanisms
that depend on social dynamics that emerge on the microbial
community level, but are driven by individual interactions among
microbes competing for food and space at the smallest scale.”
Soil on our planet—fundamental to
agriculture, biodiversity, and water—
is under increasing pressure from human
influence. But it may also hold the solution
to some of our most pressing problems.
Soil
in the spotlight
zurĂĽck zum
Buch options, Band summer 2016"
options
Band summer 2016
- Titel
- options
- Band
- summer 2016
- Ort
- Laxenburg
- Datum
- 2016
- Sprache
- englisch
- Lizenz
- CC BY-NC 4.0
- Abmessungen
- 21.0 x 29.7 cm
- Seiten
- 32
- Kategorien
- Zeitschriften Options Magazine