Soil biodiversity and carbon storage

Understanding carbon cycling in soils is of vital importance, because it determines soil-climate feedbacks via balance of carbon between the soil and the atmosphere, as well as soil health. Soil communities play a key role in driving soil carbon cycling. Soil organisms degrade organic matter, which drives emissions to the atmosphere. At the same time they use carbon for their own growth and thereby determine the amount of carbon retained in soils and microbial biomass. Higher trophic levels of soil organisms may modify the activity and performance of soil microorganisms by feeding on them, as well as by changing abiotic conditions in the soil. As a result, they can strongly impact the role of microorganisms in driving carbon cycling and storage. How soil communities and trophic interactions between soil organisms drive carbon losses and gains in soils is still poorly understood. Therefore in my group, we focus on how soil communities drive soil carbon cycling. We pay specific attention to relationships between litter and decomposer communities in driving soil carbon cycling and to the role of higher trophic levels in modifying rates of carbon cycling. This is work is carried out in close collaboration with the Lejoly group.