Sensitive soil ecosystems
Global warming and pollution are major threats to nature and a sustainable future. SoilStress seeks to determine how increased temperature and pesticides together influence small but important soil-dwelling animals, how biodiversity affects these impacts, and how they manage to recover once the stress has ended.
The researchers will combine fieldwork and laboratory studies to uncover the mechanisms behind vulnerability and recovery. They will measure, among other things, metabolism, gene expression, and lipids in the animals to find out how energy is used under stress, and what happens when the stress stops and the springtails return to normal function.
Knowledge from SoilStress can enhance our understanding of how climate and pollution affect soil ecosystems and provide a better basis for decision-making on the sustainable use of pesticides, as well as measures to preserve the soil’s biological functions.
Collaboration and participants
The SoilStress team is international and interdisciplinary, spanning ecotoxicology, ecology, genetics, analytical chemistry, ecophysiology, and population modeling, with contributions from master’s students, a PhD candidate, a postdoctoral researcher, researchers, and professors.
The team is currently announcing a postdoctoral position (jobbnorge.no) for the project and will soon also seek an internally funded PhD candidate.
The full project title is SoilStress: Cumulative effects of climate change and pollution - How climate region and local habitat shape biological responses and recover.
The project is a national and international collaboration between the University of Oslo (UiO), the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS), the University of Bergen (UiB), the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA), and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU). The project leader is Professor Katrine Borgå from the Department of Biosciences at the University of Oslo.
National participants include Katrine Borgå, Yngvild Vindenes, and Khuong V. Dinh from UiO; Stephen J. Coulson from UNIS; Odd André Karlsen from UiB; and Ian Allan from NIVA. Internationally, Pim Leonards from VU Amsterdam participates.