Collaborative Research: Global Patterns of Soil Biodiversity: Implications for Ecosystem Function

Colorado State University, Fort Collins CO

Investigators

Abstract

Knowledge of global patterns of biodiversity are based on aboveground ecosystems, even though these systems are integrally linked belowground. This grant will be the first to extend our knowledge of the unseen world in soils by determining if soils have regional and global patterns and hotspots of biodiversity and how these relate to aboveground diversity and ecosystem functioning. Using molecular techniques and ecosystem techniques, this research will integrate knowledge at the species level to ecosystem function. Establishing knowledge on soil biodiversity has implications for management of invasive species, for prioritizing sites for conservation, and for determining how global terrestrial ecosystems function.