Updates on the European Soil Biodiversity Project Ecofinders.

According to the Convention of Biological Diversity (Rio de Janeiro, 1992), biodiversity is the variation in life from genes to species, communities, ecosystems, and landscapes. Soils represent a huge reservoir of biodiversity which varies in terms of taxonomic richness, relative abundance and distribution according to soil types, climatic conditions, vegetation and land uses. The key functions supporting ecosystem services as identified in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA, 2005) largely depend upon organisms that inhabit the soil. Thus, the design and implementation of a sustainable soil management strategy requires a better knowledge of soil biodiversity. Against this background, soil biodiversity is subject to various threats. The most serious are caused by anthropogenic activities which can impair soil biodiversity and functioning with negative consequences on ecosystem service delivery, with consequent effects on primary production and soil sustainability. Determining the range of biodiversity and its role in soil functioning and ecosystem services is therefore a critical challenge which needs to be addressed.

This talk will give a short overview on an European initiative which assessed variations of biodiversity (including both microorganisms and fauna) at large spatial scales according to soil and climate types and land uses (2011 – 2014). In detail, the EcoFINDERS (Ecological Function and Biodiversity Indicators in European Soils) project supported by the European Commission addressed mainly three issues: (i) scientifically, to increase our knowledge of soil biodiversity and its role in ecosystem services across different soils, climate types and land uses, (ii) technologically, to promote the standardization of methods for characterizing soil biodiversity and functioning (including the identification of bioindicators), (iii) economically, to assess the added value brought by cost-effective bioindicators. In this talk we will provide an overview on this project (focusing on issues I and II), followed by selected examples (invertebrate diversity and functions).