Research on global food supply has many technical and ecological facets. One of the lesser known but important areas is soil biodiversity. Given its already obscure nature, even members of the scientific community debate on its importance. However, a report by Food Tank is trying to change all that.
Dr. Maria Tsiafouli, lead author of a soil biodiversity study published on Global Change Biology, was interviewed on the effects of agriculture on soil. She mentions that her research has indicated that "land use intensification-an increase in the amount of agricultural products gained from each unit of land-reduces the complexity of soil food webs across Europe."
What this means is that soil that is used and overused for cultivation of certain crops for human consumption will lose its biodiversity, or soil taxonomy. It comes from the premise that soil itself is a living organism or factory. And like any organism or factory, it must have certain groups within that fulfill a particular function for the soil to be healthy.
Practices like annual tilling and overall intensive agriculture kills off certain organisms which make the food web lopsided. This in turn makes the soil less conducive to growing crops. Dr. Tsiafouli would like governments and companies to recognize that agricultural land must be treated as a living organism. And, to ensure future crop yields, governments and companies must spend money to keep soil healthy.
Al Jazeera America also published a similar report on Peking University's research into soil biodiversity. According to them, "ecosystem functions include storing carbon, pollinating plants, acting as habitats or shelter, creating soil and acting as raw materials."
Additionally, a good 32% of soil functions are due to soil biodiversity. The study's co-author, Xin Jing of Peking University, stresses other implications of soil biodiversity.
He is quoted as saying, "ecosystems have multiple functions, which are all important. They store carbon in soil and biomass, which has massive implications for climate change, but they also hold back and release various nutrients which have effects on natural areas as well as agricultural yield."
