The Soil Zoology Department is dedicated to the study of soil invertebrates, their taxonomy and systematics, their aut- and community ecology, as well as morphology and biogeography. In seven sections, representatives of the microfauna (nematodes, waterbears and flatworms), mesofauna (springtails and oribatids, predatory and actinedid mites) and macrofauna (woodlice, centipedes and millipedes) are studied.
A research initiative to identify and publicise Germany’s biodiversity
Considerable parts of this diversity are still unknown: While we know the species of large animals and plants very well, there are large gaps in our knowledge of less conspicuous invertebrates, microscopic plants, fungi and microorganisms. However, they are immensely important for the function of our ecosystems. Under the umbrella of ‘Unknown Germany’, a consortium of more than 50 researchers is conducting a large number of research projects to record this hidden diversity. This consortium currently includes eight research institutions, and a number of associated projects are already underway. In addition, a large number of research projects will be submitted to various funding organisations in the coming months and years. The initiative is set to run for at least 10 years and new players, institutions and projects will be added on an ongoing basis.
Edaphobase is a non-commercial data infrastructure developed and hosted by the Senckenberg Museum of Natural History Görlitz in Germany, combining data from heterogeneous sources on soil animals, their distribution and habitat parameters of their sites of occurrence and making this data available to the public in open access. Edaphobase lives from the cooperation with numerous soil zoologists who upload their data to the database and thus make them available for overarching analyses and insight. The database currently focusses on Europe-wide soil-biodiversity data, but includes data from around the globe.
Edaphobase currently includes data on Nematoda, Collembola, Oribatida, Gamasina, Chilopoda, Diplopoda, Isopoda, Enchytraeidae, and Lumbricidae. The data model allows adding additional taxonomic groups easily, as long as the current (nomenclaturally complete) taxonomy and systematics of the group are provided. Edaphobase combines data on the taxonomy, zoogeography and ecology of these organisms in a comprehensive manner.
The data in Edaphobase originate from the scientific literature, unpublished results of field studies (theses, reports), collections of museums and research institutions as well as raw data from research studies and well-founded observations. Data types comprise modern taxonomic nomenclatures and synonyms, geographical references, quantities of collected organisms, soil parameters, vegetation, meteorological data, sampling and extraction methods, identification methods, preparation techniques and behavioural data. Altogether, data can be entered into (currently) ca. 620 available data fields in the above-mentioned categories.
Edaphobase is strongly geared towards common data re-use and provision of data and online analysis tools. It follows the FAIR principles and can offer DOIs for submitted data sets. Metadata are defined (including mandatory and recommended fields; in line with i.e. DataCite and INSPIRE standards), as are all data fields in the data base (including formats, units, etc.).
The database is publically available (open access) via a web-based data-query browser portal. All data (provided it is not anonymized or in an embargo period) can be queried and collated via multiple filters and be downloaded by registered users. Simple queries are possible as well as more sophisticated analyses of different data groups. Specific applications include, e.g., mapping taxa’s distributions, the elucidation of species-specific habitat preferences (niche space), or environmental correlations with population densities.
Edaphobase is a data provider to the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF).
Soil BON Foodweb is a voluntary initiative established in 2021 to assess drivers and functions of soil animal biodiversity and interactions in soil food webs on a global scale. Currently the initiative includes 33 countires. We share sampling sites with Soil Biodiversity Observation Network (Soil BON), contribute to joint data analyses, and have similar overarching goals, but focus on soil animal communities across micro-, meso-, and macrofauna. https://soilbonfoodweb.org
Within the BMBF-sponsored research initiative BonaRes , a new knowledge centre for soil functions and services in Germany has been developed: the BonaRes – Centre for Soil Research. The Centre is a cooperative project of the Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ, the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), the Senckenberg Museum of Natural History Görlitz (SMNG), the Technical University of Munich, the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) and the Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen.
The main goals are to examine the effects of land use on soil functions and to develop strategies for a sustainable use and management of soils. Towards these goals, a soil information system is being established that collects the expertise of scientists from different areas of soil research (i.e., soil science, microbiology and zoology). Within this collaboration, the SMNG is primarily responsible for soil zoology as well as linking Edaphobase with the BonaRes Centre.
Soils are a complex system, in which many factors and processes work together to produce complicated interactive structures. The manifold physical, chemical and biological interactions result in soil functions and ecosystem services such as nutrient cycling, water filtration, or the development and stabilization of soil structure. Agricultural primary production ultimately depends on these processes. The comprehensive understanding of soil systems is essential to securing or increasing harvests in the long term.
To this end, within the BonaRes Centre, the SMNG works on the identification and quantification of biological drivers of soil functions, the development of indicators for assessing these functions, the analysis of effects of agricultural management practices on soil fauna, as well as the provision of biological parameters for models of soil functions.
The project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), Project Management Jülich (PtJ), under the project number (FKZ) 031B0511D.
The “DiGraSo” project is investigating the causes of the decline in grassland diversity in protected areas in the Czech-Saxon border region and will run from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2027. The European Union is funding the project with a total of €1,079,743, of which SGN will receive €244,414.33. The project involves the Technical University of Liberec as lead partner as well as the Senckenberg Society for Nature Research, the Czech Agricultural University in Prague and the Technical University of Dresden.
Meadows and pastures are among the most species-rich habitats in Central Europe, but their diversity is declining despite conservation efforts. Current management methods are evidently not sufficient to prevent the negative impact of humans and climate change on biodiversity. It is still unclear which factors are causing the loss of species in grassland and how this can be counteracted. While vegetation and nutrient availability have been investigated, there is little knowledge about the influence of soil components on plant diversity.
In the DiGraSo project, a Czech-Saxon research team is recording above- and below-ground biodiversity in managed protected areas with species-rich and species-poor grassland in the German-Czech border region. The aim is to identify key factors that influence biodiversity on these sites. To this end, 36 sites, 18 each in the Czech Republic and Saxony, will be analysed. On each of the 36 sites, an area with species-rich vegetation will be compared with an area with species-poor vegetation.
Plant and soil parameters will be recorded, including plant cover, dry matter yield, soil physical and soil chemical parameters as well as soil fauna (earthworms, horn mites and nematodes) and flora. The aim is to recommend suitable, site-specific cultivation methods by analyzing the interactions between these parameters and the weather and climate conditions.
Red lists are an important tool for the risk assessment of species based on their population status and population trends. They help legislators and authorities to decide about conservation measures. At the same time, they contain species lists that contribute to the inventory of species diversity in Germany. The first Red Lists for soil animals in Germany (Diplopoda, Chilopoda, Lumbricidae) were compiled in our department. The existing Red Lists are currently being revised and the Red List of oribatid mites is in preparation.
#GlobalCollembola is a global network of springtail ecologists and taxonomists, joinig over 140 researchers worldwide. Our aims include synthesis of existing data and knowledge, join experiments and expertise sharing
Global Oribatida is a network of scientists aiming for open data and global synthesis of knowledge on oribatid mites. The first objective of Global Oribatida is to assess the abundance and local diversity of oribatid mites on a global scale. We are therefore collecting both published and unpublished data on population densities and species numbers of Oribatida (ideally community data matrix) to address major questions in Oribatida macroecology, such as (1) What are the patterns of abundance and local species richness of oribatid mites on a global scale? (2) What are the main environmental drivers of their global distribution by linking with globally available environmental layers? We will also estimate community biomass and metabolism of oribatid mites to evaluate their roles in ecosystems.
The coordinator of this project is Jing-Zhong Lu (goribatida[at]gmail.com).
