Moderation: Prof. Dr. Steffen Kolb, DBG

Soil biota provides fundamental ecosystem functions (ESFs), e.g. nutrient recycling, carbon sequestration, mineralisation, the breakdown of pollutants, and much more. These ESFs, in turn, form the basis for multiple ecosystem services and are the foundation of healthy soils.  Research into the soil organisms involved has traditionally focused either on the fauna or solely on the microbiome. This workshop is aimed at those participants with an interest in both groups of organisms and seeks to explore how research gaps can be meaningfully addressed, both in terms of content and methodology, in order to further develop and advance the debate on soil health – a debate which ultimately requires input from both biological research fields (microbiome research and faunistic soil ecology).

Moderation: Dr. Christian Ristok, GfÖ                      

Multifunctionality gains more and more traction in the soil health research and debate. However, a defined and standardized minimum set of functions is still lacking. This workshop will focus on

1. which functions should be integrated in a multifunctionality approach?; 
2. what additional insight is gained from a multifunctionality approach in comparison to a more traditional species composition perspective?; and 
3. which limitations exist regarding a multifunctionality approach?

Moderation: Prof. Dr. Michaela Dippold, DBG

Functional traits of soil organisms are currently not included as monitored indicators despite their high relevance for soil and ecosystem functions. In this workshop, we will discuss which functional traits, or their proxies, may delivering an enhanced information relative to the monitoring of species abundances and distributions, and thus offer significant potential for regulatory practice from a scientific perspective. We will summarize the methods (including the associated workload) used to measure these traits, and we'll discuss existing needs for further development of approaches allowing the integration of trait monitoring in existing monitoring efforts.

Moderation: Dr. Christina Lachmann, NMZB & N.N., Soil Monitoring Centre

How can soil biodiversity and biodiversity-related soil functions be assessed through monitoring and how can appropriate methods and indicators be applied from individual sites to larger spatial scales? The workshop will focus on the methodological and infrastructural requirements for scalable soil biodiversity monitoring. The goal is to discuss which biodiversity-driven soil functions are relevant for monitoring, how these can be reliably measured under real-world monitoring conditions, and what current methodological, infrastructural, and practical limitations exist.