A project of the Scientific Committee of Problems in the Environment (SCOPE) Committee on Soil and Sediment Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning (SSBEF) Chair: Diana H. Wall, Colorado State University

Photo Album

Partcipants: L to right, front row: Bill Hunt (USA), Stella Salvo, SSBEF Program Officer, Holley Zadeh, SSBEF Office, Diana Wall, Chair, SSBEF, George Brown (Brazil), Alan Covich( USA), Lily Huddleson (IBOY program office),

L to R, kneeling: David Wardle (New Zealand), Val Behan-Pelletier (Canada), Tom Iliffe (USA), Paul Giller (Ireland), Paul Snelgrove (Canada), Jo Anderson (Britain),

Row 3: Ron Kneib (USA), Phil Ineson (Britain), David Bignell (Britain), Lisa Levin (USA), Yvonne Baskin (USA), Steve Hawkins (Britain), Grace Li (USA), Melanie Austen (Britain),

Row 4: Richard Bardgett (Britain), Nina Caraco (USA), Val Brown (Britain), Kathy Ewel (USA), Gina Adams (USA). Andy Parsons (USA), Mark St. John (USA),

Row 5: Willem Goedkoop (Sweden), Wim Van der Putten (Netherlands), Jan Marcin Weslawski (Poland), Todd Wojtowicz (USA), Bob Hall (USA), Jim Garey (USA), Patrick Lavelle (France,) Bob Whitlach (USA)

Summary
Soil and sediments cover the earth in a contiguous sheath that teems with life. They are the most biodiverse habitats on the planet. Until recent decades, scientists considered the biota in the earth’s soils and sediments as a “black box”: they monitored the physical and chemical components of these environments, but treated the diverse organisms that comprise the soil and sediment community and contribute to important ecosystem processes as a “nameless, faceless” set of functional groups. Given this era of unprecedented anthropogenic biodiversity loss, an urgent question facing scientists and decision-makers is, “Which taxa and how much biodiversity must be conserved to maintain or restore essential ecosystem functioning?”

Because the extremely diverse soil- and sediment-dwelling organisms occur all over the earth and play a role in regulating the most vital ecosystem services, identifying the significance of below-surface biological diversity for ecosystem functioning, both today and under scenarios of global change, has been increasingly recognized as a major research priority. Applying this integrative knowledge for management and conservation will be crucial for long-term global sustainability of ecosystems and the welfare of human society.

This proposal requests funding for a final workshop of the SCOPE Committee on Soil and Sediment Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning (SSBEF) that will build on a series of previous workshops that synthesized scientific knowledge of biodiversity, ecosystem functioning and global change across the interconnected soils and sediments. It also requests funds for one of two books that will communicate the Committee’s findings to a broad audience.

This final workshop will, for below-surface domains, assess the state of existing knowledge on the below-surface taxa, ecosystem functions and habitats of greatest biological, ecological and economic value, their vulnerability to human activities, and options for conservation and sustainable management. The workshop’s findings will fill major gaps in knowledge for managing ecosystems sustainably and will be published in two books, to reach the broadest audience:

1. An academic book, edited by Dr. Diana Wall and
2. A popular book for the public, policymakers and managers, written by the well-known author Ms. Yvonne Baskin, and published SCOPE’s official publisher, Island Press.

Discussions for funding the academic book through SCOPE and Island Press are ongoing. This proposal requests funds for the popular book, which will convey the latest science-based information on the wonder and importance of below-surface biodiversity from all workshops and, importantly, this workshop’s findings on the potential of our collective actions to degrade or conserve it.