BIOservicES

CHALLENGE

There is evidence of the fundamental role of soil biodiversity in providing multiple ecosystem functions and services. However, there is a lack of information about how soil organisms participate in the performance of ecosystem functions and services, making it difficult to include them in investment, monitoring and restoration plans. This fact limits our ability to predict how soil biodiversity can affect human well-being and the sustainability of ecosystems.

SOLUTION

BIOservicES will bring together a multidisciplinary team for 60 months to provide new knowledge on the functions and ecosystem services of the soil associated with soil organisms and develop new indicators, tools and incentives to identify and monitor the key organisms that contribute to the provision of ecosystem services in a variety of land uses across Europe. To do this, 25 experimental sites in five biogeographic regions covering eight different European land uses will participate in project activities.

IMPACTS

BIOservicES will generate new knowledge, new indicators based on soil organisms and the ecosystem functions and services they participate in, and digital decision-support tools and models to help design climate-resilient management practices and monitoring, conservation and restoration programs adapted to a variety of environments, contributing to the updating of national and EU legislation.