Scientists at the University of Aberdeen and Scottish Office-funded Macaulay Land Use Research Institute (MLURI) are to play a major role in a new Soil Biodiversity Research Programme. Launched today (7 April) at the Edinburgh International Science Festival, the 5-year £6million Programme is funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).
The Programme aims to discover more about the lives of microbes and other soil-dwelling creatures, their links with plant growth and their responses to environmental pressures.
Launching the Programme Professor Michael Usher, Chairman of the Soil Biodiversity Programme Steering Committee, and Chief Scientist at Scottish Natural Heritage in Edinburgh said: “If you stand on a piece of grassland in the UK, you have about two thousand species beneath your feet – and those are just the ones we know about.
“At first glance it might not look at all spectacular, but it contains a vast and diverse range of important organisms, many of which have been poorly studied.”
Professor Jim Prosser, Head of the University of Aberdeen’s Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, explained the role of the teams in Aberdeen who will be working as part of the Programme.
“An important component of the Programme is the use of cutting-edge, molecular techniques for the study of microbial diversity. These techniques have led to one of the great revolutions in microbial ecology by revealing the existence of extraordinary diversity within natural microbial populations.
“This diversity has been concealed in the past by the need to grow microorganisms in the laboratory before they could be identified. This is not required for modern techniques which involve analysis of molecules.
“To explain the remarkable nature of the findings, imagine that everything we knew about the ecology of birds was based on a few domesticated birds, e.g. budgerigars, canaries, parrots and so on. Then imagine the impact on ecology of discovering all of the other birds which we know to exist in the environment.
“This is the situation for microbial ecologists – bacterial groups which we thought to be well-characterised are now known to contain hundreds more species whose functions in the environment are not known. Even more exciting has been the discovery of large groups of novel microorganisms which were previously completely unknown and unsuspected. This finding is equivalent to discovering birds or mammals or fish, but having no idea of what they do in the environment.
Professor Prosser continued: “The research groups in Aberdeen have been involved in the development of molecular techniques to study microbial diversity and will use them to determine its impact on the cycling of important soil nutrients, their consequent effects on plant growth and the impact of pollution on diversity.”
The Programme will involve scientists from around 30 organisations, including NERC Institutes and universities in Scotland, England and Wales. Seventeen research grants have already been awarded, four involving researchers at Aberdeen. The scientists will study a wide range of organisms from bacteria and fungi to microscopic insects and mites, nematode worms and earthworms.
Professor TJ Maxwell, Director of the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute (MLURI) added: “The Soil Biodiversity Research Programme is another stage in the establishment of Aberdeen as a centre for research in environmental microbiology through close interactions and collaboration between the local research institutes and the University of Aberdeen. This programme builds on two existing collaborative programmes involving the MLURI and University of Aberdeen.
“The first, MICRONET, is funded by the Scottish Office and is assessing the effects of changes in land use throughout the UK on soil microbial diversity and activity, and how these affect the productivity and structure of plant communities. The second, on Soil Health, involves the study of molecular microbial ecology to improve food safety and production and the functioning and health of soils.”
Much of the field research will be carried out at MLURI’s Sourhope Research Station in the Cheviot Hills, This will be complemented by research on a simulated grassland ecosystem recreated in the Ecotron laboratory at NERC’s Centre for Population Biology at Imperial College, Ascot, Berks.
Further information from:
Professor Jim Prosser, University of Aberdeen, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology,
01224 273148
Professor Ken Killham, University of Aberdeen, Department of Plant and Soil Science,
01224 272260
Professor TJ Maxwell, Director, Macaulay Land Use Research Institute, 01224 318611
Christine Cook, Director of Public Relations, University of Aberdeen, 01224 272014
Ursula Edmunds, NERC Communications, Swindon. Tel: 01793 411604