Although most of the world's biodiversity is below ground, surprisingly little is known about how it affects ecosystems or how it will be affected by climate change. A new study demonstrates that soil bacteria and the richness of animal species belowground play a key role in regulating a whole suite of ecosystem functions on Earth. The authors call for far more attention to this overlooked world of worms, bugs and bacteria in the soil.
Ecosystem functions such as carbon storage and the availability of nutrients are linked to the bugs, bacteria and other microscopic organisms that occur in the soil. In fact, as much as 32% of the variation seen in ecosystem functions can be explained by the biodiversity in the soil. In comparison, plant biodiversity accounts for 42%. That is the conclusions of a new study published in Nature Communications led by Peking University and the Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate at the University of Copenhagen.
Read more at Biodiversity Belowground Is Just As Important As Aboveground
Large areas of farmland in the east of England could become unprofitable within a generation as soil erosion and degradation make it less productive, according to the Government’s official climate change advisory group.
The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) report says the UK will be in danger of producing less food in the coming decades, when it should be producing more.
The degradation is the result of increasingly intense farming practices, with deep plowing, rapid crop-rotation and ever-larger fields free of trees allowing the wind and rain to carry away the top layer of soil, according to the report. Farmland around the East Anglian Fens could become less productive and less profitable, forcing the country to increase food imports at a time of growing global demand and rising prices, it says.
Britain’s soil quality has already been damaged. The country has lost 84 per cent of its fertile topsoil since 1850, with the erosion continuing at a rate of 1cm to 3cm a year.
Farmers have been able to improve yields through technological advances, but it is only a matter of time before productivity decreases, experts say. “Soil is a very important resource which we have been very carefree with. At the moment we are treating our agricultural soils as though they are a mined resource – that we can deplete – rather than a stewarded resource that we have to maintain for the long-term future,” said Lord Krebs, chairman of the CCC’s adaptation sub-committee.
And climate change is set to make matters worse by increasing temperatures and water shortages that make the soil dustier, as well as the frequency of heavy rainstorms, which wash it away.
“The most fertile topsoils in the east of England – where 25 per cent of our potatoes and 30 per cent of our vegetables are grown – could be lost within a generation,” said Lord Krebs.
“Soil is a very important resource which we have been very carefree with. At the moment we are treating our agricultural soils as though they are a mined resource – that we can deplete – rather than a stewarded resource that we have to maintain for the long-term future,” said Lord Krebs, chairman of the CCC’s adaptation sub-committee.
And climate change is set to make matters worse by increasing temperatures and water shortages that make the soil dustier, as well as the frequency of heavy rainstorms, which wash it away.
“The most fertile topsoils in the east of England – where 25 per cent of our potatoes and 30 per cent of our vegetables are grown – could be lost within a generation,” said Lord Krebs.
Read original article at Soil Erosion a Major Threat to Britain'S Food Supply, Says Government Advisory Group
