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What is the context of this research?

We know a lot about the importance of microbial communities in natural environments. However, we know very little about the impact of microbial communities in agricultural soils. We know that microbes can promote growth by releasing nutrients, degrading toxic compounds, establishing positive interactions with plants, and producing antimicrobial active agents against pathogens.

We do not know how to manage soil microbial diversity to improve crop production. In this project we study the principles that regulate microbial communities and use our knowledge to improve natural soil fertility in a farm setting.

What is the significance of this project?

As stated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), biodiversity is essential for food security and nutrition. Thousands of interconnected species make up a vital web of biodiversity within the ecosystems upon which global food production depends. Achieving food security for all is intrinsically linked to the maintenance of biodiversity.

This project is important because it will give us a better understanding of living organisms in their native environment, which is critical to preserve biodiversity, and if this project is complete we will be also able to identify microbes to be used to improve soil quality, and ultimately improve agricultural practices.

What are the goals of the project?

We want to determine the minimum biodiversity level that supports soil fertility, and will do this by isolating 15 or more different microbes from the most fertile soils. Then we will use these to create microbial communities composed of 1, 3, and 9 different species. Each community will be used to inoculate a sample of sterilized soil. We hypothesize that the soils with the highest level of biodiversity would be the most fertile.

Secondly we will identify the specific plant-beneficial microbes, with the goal of studying in the future the exact mechanism they help plants. Third, we will develop a farming protocol that preserves specifically those microbes that have been shown to support fertility and plant growth. We also plan to publish so that other scientists and farmers can learn from our findings.