2016 AAAS Annual Meeting (February 11-15, 2016)

February 10 - 15, 2016

Global Soil Biodiversity: A Common Ground for Sustainability

Living soils are the basic interface supporting food production, clean air, clean water, and better human health. The immense biodiversity contained in soil is crucial to ecosystem functions, such as the storage of carbon, nutrient cycling, and regulation of pests. Around the world, these important organisms are being lost as soils are degraded from development and unsustainable usage. Despite increased scientific interest in below-ground biodiversity, the scientific community lacks a comprehensive, global-scale understanding of soil biodiversity and its functions, including predictions of how it will respond to global change. To meet the urgent challenge of sustainably managing our soils, a collaborative approach has coalesced among scientists who historically studied soils in different, fragmented disciplines. This symposium discusses how the importance of soil biodiversity has quickly integrated the study of the hidden world beneath our feet. Speakers focus on scientific advances and emerging collaborations across disciplines and regions, highlighting the need to strengthen interactions between scientists, policymakers, land managers, and the public. As anthropogenic-induced changes continue to threaten soil biodiversity and ecosystem functions, speakers present a platform for how the knowledge of soil biodiversity can be used in an international and multidisciplinary way to maintain terrestrial ecosystems.