Impact of external perturbation on ecosystem biodiversity

Impact of external perturbation on ecosystem biodiversity research will be headded by ECOLE CENTRALE DE LYON (ECL), France. It will focus on the impact of external perturbation and induced modifications and their relation to ecosystem biodiversity, function and services at key field sites, assess soil biodiversity and ecosystem services on appropriate scales and in diverse ecological settings, and validate project methodologies (KU, RUG,HMGU, ECL, IMIC, UNiFi, AU, UC-FCTUC, LSE,WSR).

The task for this work package will be allocated between responsible partners as follows:

  • Evaluation and validation of methods developed in SWPs 1-3 on soil samples from the trans European test sites (KU).
  • Comparison of novel to existing bioindicators on soil samples from the trans European test sites (RUG).
  • Effect of human activity on soil function (HMGU).
  • Provision of and data handling of current soil metagenome databases, Provision of samples from varied locations representing model ecosystem (ECL).
  • Provision of data from soils under human impact and manipulative experiments in these soils (IMIC).
  • Provision of samples from varied locations representing model ecosystem. Validate the enzyme based methods on soil samples from the four European test sites (UniFi).
  • Investigating mesofauna diversity in soil samples from the trans European test sites (UC-FCTUC).
  • Investigating metabolic profile and protozoan diversity in soil samples from the trans European test sites (AU).
  • Economic and social impacts & implications of environmental changes and sustainable development (LSE).
  • Investigation of links between soil abiotic parameters, geology, history and biodiversity (WSR).