Tag Archives: dirt

Soundscapes comprised of underground acoustics can help amplify soil health

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For anyone who doesn’t like cartoons, this looks a lot cuter than the information it conveys,

An August 16, 2024 news item on ScienceDaily announces the work,

Barely audible to human ears, healthy soils produce a cacophony of sounds in many forms—a bit like an underground rave concert of bubble pops and clicks.

Special recordings made by Flinders University ecologists in Australia show that this chaotic mixture of soundscapes can be a measure of the diversity of tiny living animals in the soil, which create sounds as they move and interact with their environment.

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An August 16, 2024 Flinders University press release (also on EurekAlert), which originated the news item, describes a newish (more about newish later) field of research ‘eco-acoustics’ and technical details about the researchers’ work, Note: A link has been removed,

With 75% of the world’s soils degraded, the future of the teeming community of living species that live underground face a dire future without restoration, says microbial ecologist Dr Jake Robinson, from the Frontiers of Restoration Ecology Lab in the College of Science and Engineering at Flinders University.

This new field of research aims to investigate the vast, teeming hidden ecosystems where almost 60% of the Earth’s species live, he says.

“Restoring and monitoring soil biodiversity has never been more important.

“Although still in its early stages, ‘eco-acoustics’ is emerging as a promising tool to detect and monitor soil biodiversity and has now been used in Australian bushland and other ecosystems in the UK.

“The acoustic complexity and diversity are significantly higher in revegetated and remnant plots than in cleared plots, both in-situ and in sound attenuation chambers.

“The acoustic complexity and diversity are also significantly associated with soil invertebrate abundance and richness.”

The latest study, including Flinders University expert Associate Professor Martin Breed and Professor Xin Sun from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, compared results from acoustic monitoring of remnant vegetation to degraded plots and land that was revegetated 15 years ago. 

The passive acoustic monitoring used various tools and indices to measure soil biodiversity over five days in the Mount Bold region in the Adelaide Hills in South Australia. A below-ground sampling device and sound attenuation chamber were used to record soil invertebrate communities, which were also manually counted.   

“It’s clear acoustic complexity and diversity of our samples are associated with soil invertebrate abundance – from earthworms, beetles to ants and spiders – and it seems to be a clear reflection of soil health,” says Dr Robinson.

“All living organisms produce sounds, and our preliminary results suggest different soil organisms make different sound profiles depending on their activity, shape, appendages and size.

“This technology holds promise in addressing the global need for more effective soil biodiversity monitoring methods to protect our planet’s most diverse ecosystems.”

This is a copy of the research paper’s graphical abstract,

Caption: Acoustic monitoring was carried out on soil in remnant vegetation as well as degraded plots and land that was revegetated 15 years ago. Credit: Flinders University

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Sounds of the underground reflect soil biodiversity dynamics across a grassy woodland restoration chronosequence by Jake M. Robinson, Alex Taylor, Nicole Fickling, Xin Sun, Martin F. Breed. Journal of Applied Ecology Volume 61, Issue 9 September 2024 Pages 2047-2060 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.14738 First published online: 15 August 2024

This paper is open access.

‘Newish’ eco-acoustics

Like a lot of newish scientific terms, eco-acoustics, appears to be evolving. A search for the term led me to the Acoustic ecology entry on Wikipedia, Note: Links have been removed,

Acoustic ecology, sometimes called ecoacoustics or soundscape studies, is a discipline studying the relationship, mediated through sound, between human beings and their environment.[1] Acoustic ecology studies started in the late 1960s with R. Murray Schafer a musician, composer and former professor of communication studies at Simon Fraser University (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) with the help of his team there[2] as part of the World Soundscape Project. The original WSP team included Barry Truax and Hildegard Westerkamp, Bruce Davies and Peter Huse, among others. The first study produced by the WSP was titled The Vancouver Soundscape. This innovative study raised the interest of researchers and artists worldwide, creating enormous growth in the field of acoustic ecology. In 1993, the members of the by now large and active international acoustic ecology community formed the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology.[3]

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Soundscapes are composed of the anthrophony, geophony and biophony of a particular environment. They are specific to location and change over time.[12] Acoustic ecology aims to study the relationship between these things, i.e. the relationship between humans, animals and nature, within these soundscapes. These relationships are delicate and subject to disruption by natural or man-made means.[9]

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The acoustic niche hypothesis, as proposed by acoustic ecologist Bernie Krause in 1993,[23] refers to the process in which organisms partition the acoustic domain, finding their own niche in frequency and/or time in order to communicate without competition from other species. The theory draws from the ideas of niche differentiation and can be used to predict differences between young and mature ecosystems. Similar to how interspecific competition can place limits on the number of coexisting species that can utilize a given availability of habitats or resources, the available acoustic space in an environment is a limited resource that is partitioned among those species competing to utilize it.[24]

In mature ecosystems, species will sing at unique bandwidths and specific times, displaying a lack of interspecies competition in the acoustic environment. Conversely, in young ecosystems, one is more likely to encounter multiple species using similar frequency bandwidths, which can result in interference between their respective calls, or a complete lack of activity in uncontested bandwidths. Biological invasions can also result in interference in the acoustic niche, with non-native species altering the dynamics of the native community by producing signals that mask or degrade native signals. This can cause a variety of ecological impacts, such as decreased reproduction, aggressive interactions, and altered predator-prey dynamics.[25] The degree of partitioning in an environment can be used to indicate ecosystem health and biodiversity.

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Earlier bioacoustic research at Flinders University has been mentioned in a June 14, 2023 posting “The sound of dirt.” Finally, whether you spell it eco-acoustics or ecoacoustics or call it acoustic ecology, it is a fascinating way of understanding the natural and not-so-natural world we live in.

Enhancing plant tolerance for high salt levels in soil

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Soil with high concentrations of salt is not considered good for growing plants and that may become more of a problem as researchers seek to create greater global food security in the coming decades. From an August 7, 2024 news item on phys.org,

Soil salt concentrations above the optimal threshold for plant growth can threaten global food security by compromising agricultural productivity and crop quality. An analysis published in Physiologia Plantarum has examined the potential of nanomaterials—which have emerged over the past decade as a promising tool to mitigate such “salinity stress”—to address this challenge.

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An August 7, 2024 Wiley (publisher) news release (also on EurekAlert) provides a few more details about an assessment (meta-analysis) of how nanomaterials could be helpful,

Nanomaterials, which are tiny natural or synthetic materials, can modulate a plant’s response to salinity stress through various mechanisms, for example by affecting the expression of genes related to salt tolerance or by enhancing physiological processes such as antioxidant activities.

When investigators assessed 495 experiments from 70 publications related to how different nanomaterials interact with plants under salinity stress, they found that nanomaterials enhance plant performance and mitigate salinity stress when applied at lower dosages. At higher doses, however, nanomaterials are toxic to plants and may even worsen salinity stress.

Also, plant responses to nanomaterials vary across plant species, plant families, and nanomaterial types.

“Our analysis revealed that plants respond more positively to nanomaterials under salt stress compared with non-stressed conditions, indicating the ameliorative role of nanomaterials,” said corresponding author Damiano R. Kwaslema, MSc, of Sokoine University of Agriculture, in Tanzania. “These findings pave the way for considering nanomaterials as a future option for managing salinity stress.”

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Meta-analysis of nanomaterials and plants interaction under salinity stress by Damiano R. Kwaslema, Paulo Sulle Michael. Physiologia Plantarium Volume176, Issue4 July/August 2024 e14445 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ppl.14445 First published: 07 August 2024

This paper is behind a paywall.

More dirt from Saskatoon’s synchrotron (Canadian Light Source)

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Apparently, dirt is not welcome at most synchrotrons (also known as light sources) as was noted in my November 13, 2022 posting about Saskatoon’s synchrotron being used to analyze some soil from Hawaii. This time, according to a September 4, 2024 Canadian Light Source (CLS) news release by Rowan Hollinger (also received via email), the soil is from Kansas and there appears to be a second synchroton involved in this research,

With carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere increasing in recent decades, there is a growing urgency to find strategies for capturing and holding carbon.

Researchers from Kansas State University (K-State) are exploring how different farming practices can affect the amount of carbon that gets stored in soil. Using the Canadian Light Source (CLS) at the University of Saskatchewan (USask) and the Advanced Light Source in Berkeley, California, they analyzed soil from a cornfield in Kansas that had been farmed with no tilling for the past 22 years. During that time, the farm used a variety of different soil nitrogen management practices, including no fertilizer, chemical fertilizer, and manure/compost fertilizer.

“We were trying to understand what the mechanisms are behind increasing soil carbon storage using certain management practices,” says Dr. Ganga Hettiarachchi, professor of soil and environmental chemistry at Kansas State University. “We were looking at not just soil carbon, but other soil minerals that are going to help store carbon.”

As has been shown in other studies, the K-state researchers found that the soil enhanced (treated) with manure or compost fertilizer stores more carbon than soil that received either chemical fertilizer or no fertilizer. More exciting though, says Hettiarachchi, the ultrabright synchrotron light enabled them to see how the carbon gets stored: they found that it was preserved in pores and some carbon had attached itself to minerals in the soil.

The team also found that the soil treated with manure or compost contained more microbial carbon, an indication that these enhancements support more microorganisms and their activities in the soil. In addition, they identified special minerals in the soil, evidence Hettiarachchi says, that the treatments contribute to active chemical and biological processes.

“To my knowledge, this is the first direct evidence of mechanisms through which organic enhancements improve soil health, microbial diversity, and carbon sequestration.”

Because synchrotron imaging is non-destructive, the K-state researchers were able to observe what was going on in soil aggregate (clumps) without having to break up the soil; essentially, they were looking at the carbon chemistry in its natural state.

“Collectively, studies like this are going to help us to move forward to more sustainable, more regenerative agriculture practices that will protect our soils and environment as well as help feed growing populations, says Hettiarachchi. “As well, understanding the role of the different minerals, chemicals, and microbes involved will help improve models for predicting how different farming practices affect soil carbon storage.”

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Direct evidence on the impact of organic amendments on carbon stabilization in soil microaggregates by Pavithra S. Pitumpe Arachchige, Ganga M. Hettiarachchi, Charles W. Rice, James J. Dynes, Leila Maurmann, A. L. David Kilcoyne, Chammi P. Attanayake. Soil Science Society of America Journal (2024) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/saj2.20701 First published: 21 June 2024

This paper is behind a paywall.

Kavli nanoscience and microbiomes

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It’s been a while since I’ve mentioned the Kavli Foundation, which is dedicated to “advancing basic science for humanity.” On this occasion,  there’s a Feb. 12, 2015 news item on Nanowerk featuring a Kavli Foundation discussion about nanoscience and microbiomes,

Microbiomes, communities of one-celled organisms, are everywhere in nature. They play important roles in health and agriculture, yet we know surprisingly little about them. Nanoscience might help.

In a far-ranging discussion, two top researchers spoke with the Kavli Foundation about how nanoscience can help us understand and manipulate natural microbiomes.

Microbiomes are communities of bacteria, fungi, protozoa, algae, other one-celled microbes, and viruses that interact with one another in complex ways. These ecosystems are enormously complex. A few grams of soil or marine sediment might contain as many as several hundred thousand different species of microbes.

“There are all these amazing chemistries that microbes perform that can do really wonderful things for humanity, like providing new antibiotics and nutrients for crops. It’s pretty much an unlimited resource of novelty and chemistry—if we can develop improved tools to tap into it,” said Eoin Brodie, a staff scientist in Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Ecology Department.

In the past, researchers have sought to understand these communities by growing different microbes in cultures and observing their behaviors. Yet only a small fraction of these microorganisms grow in pure cultures.

Nanoscience could provide new ways to unravel these complex ecosystems, according to Jack Gilbert, a principle investigator at Argonne National Laboratory’s Biosciences Division.

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You can continue reading either on Nanowerk or here on the Kavli website where you’ll find the Kavli Foundation is having a series of conversations about microbiomes, which you may want to check out. This conversation with Brodie and Gilbert seems to be in aid of an upcoming Google Hangout,

Spotlight Live: Thinking Smaller – How Nanoscience Can Help Us Understand Nature’s Many Microbiomes
Wednesday, March 4 – 11:00 am PST

Join us here on March 4 for a live Google Hangout with Eoin Brodie and Jack A. Gilbert. Questions can be submitted by email or via Twitter with the hashtag: #KavliLive. For updates, follow The Kavli Foundation on Twitter and Facebook.