Soil Biodiversity, Functions and Ecosystem Services WF-OB-ILIEVSOIL-ER

Lectures

1. What is soil? Soil forming factors. Soil as a habitat. Soil structure and soil biota. The role of soil organisms in the processes of soil formation and organic matter transformation. Comparison of the soil-forming processes in Iceland and Poland.

2. Diversity and distribution of soil organisms in Europe - in different ecosystems (natural and managed ecosystems) and different zones (e.g. temperate (Poland) and boreal (Iceland). Patterns of soil biodiversity.

3. Interactions between soil organisms and the soil itself. Epedaphic, hemiedaphic, euedaphic organisms. Geobionts, periodical geophiles, temporarily active geophiles. Adaptations to soil habitat.

4. Size classification of the soil organisms by body width. Macrofauna, meso- and microfauna and microorganisms – main groups, numbers, diversity and their role in the soil.

5. The importance of soil biodiversity. Ecosystem services (supplies, supporting, regulation) provided by soil biota: (decomposing plant and animal residues, transforming and recycling nutrients, storing and releasing water, maintenance of soil structure and fertility, provision of clean drinking water, sequestering and detoxifying organic toxicants, bioremediation of pollutants, pest and pathogen control, erosion control, mitigation of floods and droughts, regulation of atmospheric trace gases). The economic value of soil biodiversity.

6. Use of soil invertebrates in soil biodiversity assessment and as soil biological quality indices (monitoring of pollutant effects; evaluation of environmental impact of agricultural management practices; using soil invertebrates as bioindicators of urban soil quality). Parameters of soil animal communities used for soil quality evaluation.

7. Current threats to soil biodiversity: (contamination (chemicals), soil compaction and sealing, erosion, decline of organic matter, salinisation, landslides, deforestation, climate changes, agricultural practices (deep tillage, the use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides, the removal of crop residues), desertification, acidification).

8. Current threats to soil biodiversity in Poland and Iceland – a comparison. Discussing the research of the ForHot project (Iceland) as a case study on the impact of climate change on biodiversity and soil functioning. Discussing the ongoing expansion of the invasive species (Lupinus arcticus, arctic lupine) in Iceland and its impact on soil life and quality.

9. Management strategies for soil biodiversity restoration, conservation and sustainable production. Practices which tend to promote soil health and practices which tend to reduce soil health in Poland and Iceland. Discussing the research in the WetWood project (Iceland) as a case study to demonstrate the role of afforestation to limit or mitigate GHG emissions from drained peatlands.

Classes

1. Sampling methods (frequency of sampling, number and storage of samples). Quantitative and qualitative methods for assessing the abundance of soil animals (including nematodes, springtails, mites, earthworms, snails, etc.).

2. Methods for extraction of animals from soil, preservation of samples, microscopic preparations. Microscopy techniques, creating photographic documentation.

3. Laboratory experiments performed by students aimed to study: i) The influence of different practices on soil fauna and ii) The importance of soil microorganisms and soil fauna in decomposition process

4. Analysis of the abundance (density) of different groups of soil fauna in the two laboratory experiments. Diversity analysis of soil fauna in collected samples - species richness, ecological groups and sentinel species.

5. Summary and interpretation of obtained results – reports and presentations.

6. Discussion on the practical use of soil animals as bioindicators - possibilities and limitations.

Obligatory reading:

Bardgett R. 2005. The Biology of Soil. Oxford University Press.

Bardgett R.D. 2015. Earth Matters: How soil underlies civilization. Oxford University Press.

Bardgett R.D., Usher B., Hopkins D.W. 2005. Biological diversity and functions in soils. Cambridge University Press.

Bardgett R.D., Wardle D.A. 2010. Aboveground-belowground linkages. Biotic interactions, ecosystem processes, and global change. Oxford Series in Ecology and Evolution.

Coleman D.C., Crossley D.A., Hendrix Jr. P.F. 2004. Fundamentals of Soil Ecology. Elsevier Academic press.

Jeffery S. , Gardi C., Jones A., Montanarella L., Marmo L., Miko L., Ritz K., Peres G., Römbke J. and van der Putten W. H. (eds.), 2010, European Atlas of Soil Biodiversity. European Commission, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg.

Lavelle P., Spain A.V. 2005. Soil Ecology. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht.

Lavelle P.,. Decaëns T., Aubert M., Barot S., Blouin M., Bureau F., Margerie P., Mora P., Rossi J.-P. 2006. Soil invertebrates and ecosystem services European Journal of Soil Biology 42, S3–S15.

Orgiazzi, A., Bardgett, R.D., Barrios, E., Behan-Pelletier, V., Briones, M.J.I., Chotte, J-L., De Deyn, G.B., Eggleton, P., Fierer, N., Fraser, T., Hedlund, K., Jeffery, S., Johnson, N.C., Jones, A., Kandeler, E., Kaneko, N., Lavelle, P., Lemanceau, P., Miko, L., Montanarella, L., Moreira, F.M.S., Ramirez, K.S., Scheu, S., Singh, B.K., Six, J., van der Putten, W.H., Wall, D.H. (Eds.), 2016, Global Soil Biodiversity Atlas. European Commission, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg. 176 pp.

Paoletti M.G. 1999. Invertebrate biodiversity as bioindicators of sustainable landscapes: practical use of invertebrates to assess sustainable land use. Elsevier Academic press.

Wall D.H., Bardgett R.D., Behan-Pelletier V., Herrick J.E., Jones H., Ritz K., Six J., Strong D.R., van der Putten W.H. Soil Ecology and Ecosystem Services 2013. Oxford University Press.

Optional reading:

Bjarnadottir B., Sungur G.A., Sigurdsson B.D., Kjartansson B.T., Oskarsson H., Oddsdottir E.S., Gunnarsdottir G.E., Black A., 2021. Carbon and water balance of an afforested shallow drained peatland in Iceland, Forest Ecology and Management, 482, 2021, 118861, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2020.118861.

Decaëns T., Jiménez J.J., Gioia C., Measey G.J., Lavelleb P. 2006. The values of soil animals for conservation biology. European Journal of Soil Biology 42 S23–S38

European Commission 2010. The factory of life. Why soil biodiversity is so important, Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, doi 10.2779/17050

Ilieva-Makulec K., Bjarnadottir B., Sigurdsson B.D. 2015. Soil nematode communities on Surtsey, 50 years after the formation of the volcanic island. Icelandic Agricultural Sciences, 28, 1, 43-58.

Ilieva-Makulec, K.; Tyburski, J.; Makulec, G. 2016. Soil nematodes in organic and conventional farming system: A comparison of the taxonomic and functional diversity, Polish Journal of Ecology, DOI: 10.3161/15052249PJE2016.64.4.010

Sigurdsson, B.D.; Leblans, N.I.W.; Dauwe, S.; Gudmundsdóttir, E.; Gundersen, P.; Gunnarsdóttir, G.E.; Holmstrup, M.; Ilieva-Makulec, K.; Kätterer, T.; Marteinsdóttir, B. et al. 2016. Geothermal ecosystems as natural climate change experiments: The ForHot research site in Iceland as a case study. Icelandic Agricultural Sciences, DOI: 10.16886/IAS.2016.05

Swift M.J., Izac A.-M.N., van Noordwijk M. Biodiversity and ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes—are we asking the right questions? Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 104 (2004) 113–134

Turbé A., De Toni A., Benito P., Lavelle P., Lavelle P., Ruiz N., Van der Putten W. H., Labouze E., Mudgal S. 2010. Soil biodiversity: functions, threats and tools for policy makers. Bio Intelligence Service, IRD, and NIOO, Report for European Commission (DG Environment).

Walker T.W.N., Janssens I.A., Weedon J.T.,Sigurdsson B.D., Richter A.,Peñuelas J., Leblans N.I.W., Bahn M., Bartrons M., De Jonge C., Fuchslueger L., Gargallo-Garriga A., Gunnarsdóttir G.E., Marañón-Jiménez S., Oddsdóttir E.S., Ostonen I., Poeplau Ch., Prommer J., Radujković D., Sardans J., Sigurðsson P., Soong J.L., Vicca S., Wallander H., Ilieva-Makulec K., Verbruggen E., 2020. A systemic overreaction to years versus decades of warming in a subarctic grassland ecosystem. Nature Ecology and Evolution, 4: 101-108.

Web site

https://www.skogur.is/static/files/radstefnur/car-es-2021/dagur2/talk-04-_-brynhildur-_-car_es_2021.pdf

basic knowledge on biology and ecology