Wall and her co-authors suggest in Nature some alternative approaches for land use and management. This includes implementing practices that enhance soil biodiversity and soil organic matter -- including cover cropping, agroforestry and conservation tillage -- which can then promote nutrient supply, water infiltration and soil structure. Other recommended approaches include integrated pest management and integrated soil fertility management.
Land, air, water and human health experts also need to band together and develop a plan of action in collaboration with public health organizations, including the United Nations and the World Health Organization. The Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative, launched in September 2011, will soon publish the first global atlas that will serve as a reference for researchers, policymakers and the general public. Wall leads this Initiative.
"If you destroy the soil, you also destroy the beneficial predators and microbes in the soil food web, and disease-causing organisms may take over," Wall said. The health of humans, animals and plants depend on soils with a robust and diverse community of microbes and invertebrates. We need to protect the life below ground since it's the health of humans that is ultimately affected."
Uffe Nielsen and Johan Six are co-authors on this call to action. Nielsen previously worked as a research scientist with Wall and Six has a doctorate in soil science from CSU. Colorado State University's Diana Wall and coauthors make the case to integrate soil biodiversity research into human health studies in a paper published online in Nature November 23.
"If we improve our management of land to enhance the biodiversity in our soils, we'll improve human health," said Wall, professor in CSU's Department of Biology, research scientist in the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory and director, School of Global Environmental Sustainability. Soil biodiversity refers to the variety of life and organisms that exist within a forest, agricultural field, park or even on a dirt road.
It sounds simple, this type of integration, but the concept is only recently gaining international acceptance. The United Nations declared 2015 as the first International Year of Soils to highlight the value of living soils to humans.
People understand that properly managing soils is key for the global food supply, and that soils are eroding. But less recognized, said coauthor Uffe Nielsen, Western Sydney University in Australia, is the role of living organisms in soils, and how management of those organisms impacts the benefits for human health.
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Wall and her co-authors suggest in Nature some alternative approaches for land use and management. This includes implementing. Practices that enhance soil biodiversity and soil organic matter - including, cover cropping agroforestry and conservation. Tillage - which can then promote nutrient supply water infiltration, and soil structure.Wall and her co-authors suggest in Nature some alternative approaches for land use and management. This includes implementing. Practices that enhance soil biodiversity and soil organic matter - including, cover cropping agroforestry and conservation. Tillage - which can then promote nutrient supply water infiltration, and soil structure.Wall and her co-authors suggest in Nature some alternative approaches for land use and management. This includes implementing. Practices that enhance soil biodiversity and soil organic matter - including, cover cropping agroforestry and conservation. Tillage - which can then promote nutrient supply water infiltration, and soil structure.Wall and her co-authors suggest in Nature some alternative approaches for land use and management. This includes implementing. Practices that enhance soil biodiversity and soil organic matter - including, cover cropping agroforestry and conservation. Tillage - which can then promote nutrient supply water infiltration, and soil structure.Wall and her co-authors suggest in Nature some alternative approaches for land use and management. This includes implementing. Practices that enhance soil biodiversity and soil organic matter - including, cover cropping agroforestry and conservation. Tillage - which can then promote nutrient supply water infiltration, and soil structure.Wall and her co-authors suggest in Nature some alternative approaches for land use and management. This includes implementing. Practices that enhance soil biodiversity and soil organic matter - including, cover cropping agroforestry and conservation. Tillage - which can then promote nutrient supply water infiltration, and soil structure.Wall and her co-authors suggest in Nature some alternative approaches for land use and management. This includes implementing. Practices that enhance soil biodiversity and soil organic matter - including, cover cropping agroforestry and conservation. Tillage - which can then promote nutrient supply water infiltration, and soil structure.Wall and her co-authors suggest in Nature some alternative approaches for land use and management. This includes implementing. Practices that enhance soil biodiversity and soil organic matter - including, cover cropping agroforestry and conservation. Tillage - which can then promote nutrient supply water infiltration, and soil structure.
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