Uses and needs of soil-biodiversity data sharing to address European soil health and – protection goals
26-27 February 2024 at Université Paul Valéry, Montpellier, France
Current issues regarding soil health and soil organisms were thoroughly covered in the presentations by key stakeholders from European institutions, including the Joint Research Centre (JRC), the European Environment Agency (EEA), and academia. Ongoing Horizon Europe projects related to soil biodiversity and soil health were represented by attendees.
Our final conference, hosted by Jérôme Cortet, centered on the significant shift toward improved data sharing practices in the context of soil health and soil biodiversity. EUdaphobase chair David Russell emphasized this shift as being achieved through the collaborative efforts within the EUdaphobase COST Action and highlighted its importance for the Horizon Europe Soil Mission “A Soil Deal for Europe”.
Local University Vice-presidents Sarah Hatchuel and Nathalie Vienne-Guérin gave a very entertaining welcome greeting in their performance, combining science and art.
Shakespeare on earthworms
Key topics revolved around the necessity of data sharing for soil assessment and monitoring to support EU policies and directives, initiatives like the SoilBon earthworm initiative, the role of the EU Soil Observatory (EUSO) in EU policy support, data usage results from EJP Soil MINOTAUR, and knowledge bases from projects like EU Horizon eco2adapt.
The conference also covered specific use cases in data sharing, including predictive ecology with Edaphobase focusing on earthworms, the European Atlas of Soil Fauna, and various ecological research efforts aimed at global biodiversity restoration. It delved into trait-based approaches for understanding functional soil biodiversity and presented case studies on the distribution and ecology of diverse soil organisms across Europe.
Day two of the conference shifted focus to the technical requirements for data sharing, including the necessary structures for large-scale data collation, experiences from the BonaRes Repository, data standardization and harmonization, inclusion of microbial data in Edaphobase, and the procedures for data upload. Furthermore, it addressed the willingness among the scientific community to share data, data quality review, policy issues, and the development of ontologies for soil biodiversity data.
Overall, the conference underscored the critical role of collaborative data sharing and standardization in advancing soil biodiversity research, supporting policy-making, and fostering global efforts to protect soil health viz. soil biodiversity and soil ecosystem services.
