[FRB-CESAB] This summer at CESAB, researchers from the three continents gathered to advance knowledge on soil macrofauna in the tropics

The group during its first workshop in July 2023

Researchers from southern America, Canada and Europe are collaborating within the FAUNASERVICES research project. The group focuses on the relationships between soil macrofauna biodiversity and the ecosystem services soils deliver in the neotropics (central and southern America). The scientist will gather for four one-week-workshops held twice in CESAB, France, and twice in São Paulo, Brazil. This partnership is allowing an original data synthesis looking at the links between soil biodiversity and five major ecosystem services delivered by soils, such as fertility, carbon sequestration, water retention, but also pest and parasite control.

This unique partnership has, in addition, benefitted this year from the contribution of the French embassy in Canada, which generously funded the participation of a Canadian researcher to a CESAB workshop. Zoe Lindo, an expert in soil biodiversity and ecosystem function, from the University of Western Ontario, was selected from the call and brought major contributions to the group’s work. More specifically, Zoe shared their recently published R package that models food webs within soil ecosystems.

This second workshop held within CESAB was therefore an opportunity to bring together experts with complementary competences on a single topic. A collaboration that would have been impossible without the support of the several partners involved in the project.