Healthy soil after revegetation

RESEARCHERS at Flinders University believe long-term ecosystem restoration relies not just on replanting native vegetation, but also on the recovery of underlying soil biodiversity.

A new article in Biological Conversation by lead author Carl Watson, a PhD candidate in restoration ecology at Flinders University, calls for better insights and solutions to fill the gap and help improve the success of restoration efforts.

This is vital to rebuilding ecosystems and returning biodiversity to land damaged by clearance, mining, urbanisation and other impacts.

“Vast areas of the earth’s ecosystems are degraded which is leading to cascading losses of biodiversity, driving up extinction rates and even disease risks to us,” Mr Watson said.

“We must write into these important revegetation efforts the need for below-ground ecosystem recovery and monitoring as understanding how soil microbial communities return after revegetation will help rebuild critical habitats.”

The study synthesised global studies that mapped changes in soil microbes after native plant revegetation.

The 26 compiled studies showed more rapid recovery in soil bacteria than fungi, which is consistent with bacteria’s shorter generation times and better dispersal abilities.

“We urge restoration ecologists to include microbes in their studies and reporting to landowners and policymakers to more accurately map ecosystem responses to revegetation efforts,” said Flinders University College of Science and Engineering senior researcher, Dr Martin Breed.

“This is a complex field as soil microbes are extremely diverse, but understanding this microscopic underground life is increasingly affordable and is vital to provide the ecological functions such as nutrient cycling that supports plant growth and broader ecosystem recovery.”