Getting the good dirt on ecosystems

The answers to improved ecosystems lay beneath our feet. “Rather than looking to find the necessary solutions in the trees of rainforests or the waters of oceans, just look under your feet,” says Associate Professor Martin Breed, “because about 59% of all species are found in soils.”

Associate Professor Breed, who leads the Frontiers of Restoration Ecology Lab at Flinders University, makes important connections between soil health and the health of plants and animals. He takes a holistic view that ecosystem improvements begin below the ground and end up influencing all living matter – including us.

“We must ask why there aren’t bigger conversations in public and in government about the core issue of improving people’s health through improving ecosystems,” says Associate Professor Breed.

While he was trained in evolutionary biology, Associate Professor Breed pursued the path of restoration ecology because he was frustrated by a barrage of negative scientific messages that forecast catastrophic decline of species and biodiversity crises. “Initially, my heart was set on having a David Attenborough-type romantic discovery experience in a pristine remote location – but I’ve learned it’s more valuable to be doing something more fundamental that affects how people make decisions to bring about ecosystem repair,” he says.

“I draw a line between conservation biology, which is mainly focused on protecting the pristine areas of the world, and restoration ecology, which is the science of repairing degraded ecosystems.

“Focusing on restoration ecology was a valuable reset for me, moving away from gloomy pessimism to realise that we can actually do something – and do it now, at any stage and scale, to have immediate effect. If we despair, we are more likely to keep our heads in the sand, but if there is clear possibility, we can accelerate progress and empower communities through ecosystem restoration.”

For restoration efforts to be truly effective, Associate Professor Breed says, there is much we have to learn about holistic ecosystem repair that thrives over the long term. “Quite simply, we don’t know how to restore ecosystems effectively,” he says. “Current success rates are low. It sounds relatively easy to plant new vegetation or play with altering soils, but arriving at a robust ecosystem that is sustainable is really challenging.”

Some of his research and collaborations will sit within a newly-granted program funded by the Australian Government under the Future Drought Fund, a stimulus package that signals a new era of climate-smart farming is on the horizon. It will bring 39 research partners including farming and agri-business communities together under an $11.7 million program to be led by Flinders University and the South Australian Research and Development Institute – the research division of the Department of Primary Industries and Regions South Australia.

In addition to connecting the farming community to leading researchers, the program will establish long-term research trials to test applied science and climate-resilient solutions that focus on four major themes: creating climatesmart grain and feed, soil improvement practices to advance soil health, using precision livestock strategies for healthier livestock, and increasing landscape diversification.

Associate Professor Breed says restoring soils and biodiverse ecosystems are key parts of the puzzle. “We know enough now to make recommendations about health policies that relate to ecosystems, but integrating ecosystem restoration practices into a human health framework is a step further. It’s still unresolved, because fundamental questions are not yet answered.”

Associate Professor Breed says solutions span three main areas: the first being that scientists must work together across disciplines to solve these types of inter-connected problems affecting both people and ecosystems. “These areas are intrinsically connected, so we must look at the issues more expansively, and try and consider every angle if we hope to find complete solutions,” says Professor Breed. He is collaborating with medical doctors, epidemiologists, city planners, landscape architects, economists, Indigenous health leaders, immunologists, and many others to build a more expansive view. “We need to work together to plug all the essential information together. We need these big coalitions of the willing to bring about real change.”

The second primary area is connecting the scientific evidence to effective policy. To achieve this, it is crucial for researchers to understand the political landscape, from small community groups and local governments, through to international organisations and national governments – we have to exert influence on those people who make the decisions if we want to create change.

“At the moment, agriculture and ecosystem budgets are a fraction of defence and public health budgets, and yet we know ecosystems are tightly linked to our health and our food systems. If this is going to change, we have to present compelling scientific and economic arguments about why ecosystem restoration is an urgent need for society.”

Associate Professor Breed says a third serious area of concern is global population distribution. In 2006, for the first time ever, more than 50% of the world’s human population was living in cities, and the rate has rapidly escalated; 65% of people probably now live in cities, and the number is expected to be 70% by 2050, with significant rises forecast particularly in equatorial African regions.

“Growing cities are influencing the collapse of ecosystems, de-stabilising food webs and causing rapid changes to soil biodiversity, which in turn risks creating unhealthy populations of people,” says Associated Professor Breed.

“Such massive redistribution of such a huge population is a new problem. The loss of urban biodiversity, declining green ecosystems and increasing pollution in urban areas around the world are not only increasing citizens’ exposure to unhealthy pathogens and allergens, but is reducing their exposure to key beneficial elements like soil biodiversity that promote good immunity. This positive exposure is linked to reduced allergies and other illnesses including asthma in humans. Soil biodiversity promotes better human health and wellbeing.”

He emphasises that very clear correlations exist between the health of people and the health of ecosystems, yet in both scientific research and funding, these two areas remain largely separate from each other. Associate Professor Breed wants this to change.

“There has to be room for more than one expert opinion to achieve greater holistic outcomes. Animal-focused experts can forget that the wellbeing of animals relies on the health of plants, and plant experts can forget that the habitat plants create relies on soils. All these areas of science – and many more – must interconnect to achieve a united, well-articulated vision statement that brings people, animals and ecosystems together in a way that benefits us all.”