Soils host by far most biodiversity on our planet. This soil biodiversity is essential for other life forms on Earth: plants as holobionts utterly depend on soil microbes to thrive, while other soil organisms drive nutrient cycles from micro to global scales. Not surprisingly, soil biodiversity has become a ‘hot topic’ in science, as shown in a disproportional rise in high-quality publications, and also has been raising political interest, such as shown by the EU soil monitoring law. We now increasingly understand the diversity, composition and even functional profiles of many soil taxa. Agricultural practices and emerging pollutants may threaten this soil biodiversity, making it an important research field to explore and keep soils healthy. Many methodological frontiers emerge that might help understand and enhance soil biodiversity.
In this session, we aim to highlight potential threats to soil biodiversity and will discuss (methodological) frontiers that improve our understanding on soil biodiversity and soil functioning. We specifically welcome soil biodiversity-linked submissions focusing on agriculture, pollutants like microplastics, antibiotics or anthelminthics. We also welcome new methodological and experimental approaches that help to uncover the biodiversity and functioning of life in soil.