A Proposal to CSU Office of International Programs
Conservation and Sustainable Use of Soil Biodiversity: A Conference on Predicting Soil Biodiversity Patterns under Climate Change
Diana H. Wall1, Edward Ayres2, and Breana Simmons2
1Professor of Biology and Senior Research Scientist Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory
2Research Scientist, Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory
“When you scoop up a double handful of earth … you will find thousands of invertebrate animals, ranging in size from clearly visible to microscopic, from ants and springtails to tardigrades and rotifers. The biology of most of the species you hold is unknown…. We have little concept of how important any of them are to our existence. Their study would certainly teach us new principles of science to the benefit of humanity.” E.O. Wilson. 1987. The little things that run the world: The importance and conservation of invertebrates. Conservation Biology 1:344-346.
“It is imperative for ecosystem sustainability at local, regional, and global levels, that all of society considers the vertebrate, invertebrate, and microbial biodiversity of soils…as having a crucial role in the provision of ecosystem services.” – Diana H. Wall, Sustaining Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in Soils and Sediments. Island Press 2004.
This proposal requests funding for an international conference to address a basic ecological question: Where on Earth are hot- and cold-spots of soil biodiversity (the regions of highest and lowest diversity)? Can we predict how these patterns will be altered with global change? Soil organisms are considered to be critical to the provision of ecosystem services such as soil fertility and carbon storage. Thus, the answer to this question has relevance for many aspects of sustaining our planet – for food, fiber and biofuel production, for control of soil-borne diseases and pests, for maintenance and management of nutrient cycling, for conservation strategies, for bioremediation of pollutants, for carbon sequestration, for restoration of mined soils, and to help determine the resilience of ecosystems (see also the 2006 COP8 Convention on Biological Diversity, International Initiative for theConservation and Sustainable Use of Soil Biodiversity http://www.cbd.int/decisions/?dec=VIII/23). Given the current era of unprecedented anthropogenic change to soils (erosion, desertification, etc) and biodiversity loss, as well as other global changes, an urgent question facing scientists and decision-makers is, “What are the patterns of belowground diversity, which taxa are essential for ecosystem functioning now, and how might this change in the future?” This is of considerable importance when we recognize that >90% of the energy that flows through an ecosystem eventually passes through the foodwebs belowground (Wall 2004) and that more species live in soil than aboveground. This proposal requests funding for a conference that will assess the current state of knowledge, identify research gaps and provide a basis for the prediction of future patterns of soil biodiversity under global change. It will engage scientists from disciplines such as biodiversity, invasive species, evolutionary biology, botany, zoology, ecology, microbiology, agriculture, ecosystem science, earth science, conservation, energy, global changes and modeling.
Applying such integrative knowledge to management and conservation will be crucial for longterm global sustainability of soils and the welfare of human society.
Conference Information
Conference Goals and Objectives:
The goals of the conference are to identify the current knowledge on drivers and patterns of soil biodiversity across the landscape and to integrate knowledge and techniques used by other disciplines to determine how soil biodiversity patterns might alter under climate change across different ecosystems; and identify research gaps and needed experiments.
Prior to the Conference
An international advisory committee and local committee will be set up to maximize use of the conference’s goals and resources. Invitations will be issued for the key participants. Prior to the meeting date, invited participants will submit a paragraph on their interest in patterns of biodiversity and objectives for addressing the current status of knowledge and research gaps. They will provide contact information and suggest any papers that should be available to meeting participants prior to the meeting date. The paragraph and contact information will be available on the web site. Meeting participants will bring laptop computers and data storage devices for information sharing.
Products
Priorities for the future of soil biodiversity research relative to conservation and sustainable use; the creation of an online Global Soil Biodiversity Network (latitude/longitude of species occurrence), the future means of information sharing for climate change and soil invertebrate patterns; and other networks: and integration of findings for the CBD, Desertification and Agriculture.
Date and Location
Date: June 4-6, 2008
Location:
Accommodations – Best Western on College Ave;
Conference – Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University
References
Wall, D. H. 2004. Sustaining Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in Soils and Sediments.
2003. D.H. Wall, ed. Island Press, Washington, D.C.
Wilson, E. O. 1994. The Diversity of Life. Penguin, London.