Tag Archive for: biodiversity

Morphological and DNA-based identification methods to assess earthworm diversity

New publication on morphological and DNA-based identification methods to assess earthworm diversity

The time-consuming and expensive identification of soil invertebrates is probably the most important reason for the lack of a German nationwide and standardised survey of soil organisms. The present publication should contribute to solving this problem. Earthworms and soil were sampled at 25 sites, and the animals were identified morphologically and using DNA-based identification methods: community DNA (comDNA) and environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding.

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Report published on the evaluation of soil biodiversity via DNA from soil organism samplesK. Duis

Report published on the evaluation of soil biodiversity via DNA from soil organism samples

Germany still lacks a nationwide and standardised survey of soil organisms, although a comprehensive infrastructure for such a survey is available with approx. 800 permanent soil monitoring sites (Bodendauer­beobachtungsflächen, BDF). At present, not all federal states perform biodiversity surveys on their permanent soil monitoring sites. This is most likely due to the fact that the […]

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Standard methods for the assessment of structural and functional diversity of soil organisms

Critical review: Standard methods for the assessment of structural and functional diversity of soil organisms

The lack of standardised methods to study soil organisms prevents comparisons across datasets and hampers the development of new global and regional experiments and assessments. Standardised methods are also needed to evaluate the impact of anthropogenic stressors, such as chemicals, on soil organism communities in the regulatory context. The objective of this critical review is […]

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Full reference:

Hudson, L.N., Newbold, T., Contu, S., Hill, S.L.L., Lysenko, I., De Palma, A., Phillips, H.R.P., Senior, R.A., Bennett, D.J., Booth, H., Choimes, A., Correia, D.L.P., Day, J., Echeverría-Londoño, S., Garon, M., Harrison, M.L.K., Ingram, D.J., Jung, M., Kemp, V., Kirkpatrick, L., Martin, C.D., Pan, Y., White, H.J., Aben, J., Abrahamczyk, S., Adum, G.B., Aguilar-Barquero, V., […]

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Development of a classification and assessment concept based on biodiversity of water and soil organisms regarding the effects of climate change and anthropogenic stressors

In July 2008, a new interdisciplinary research centre was founded in Frankfurt am Main (Germany) within the framework of the LOEWE Programme, a State Government of Hesse initiative for the development of scientific and economic excellence. The mission of the new centre (BiK-F) is to carry out internationally outstanding research on the interactions of organismic […]

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Determination and analysis of the soil quality in the context of the implementation and further development of the National Strategy on Biodiversity

The aim of this project was the improvement of the preconditions for the protection of the habitat function of soil as described in § 2 of the German Federal Soil Protection Act (1998), in particular in two ways: first, suitable biological indicators (i.e. organism groups) for the assessment of soil quality had to be identified. […]

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