Earth Day 2016: Soil and Sand

Fig.1. Earth Day promotes efforts to protect the planet and the life it holds, from microbes on a plate to huge ecosystems (Credit, left to right, top to bottom: Julia Stevens, Christine Zenino/2009, 
Laura Cochrane/Mills Park Middle School, Acropara/2011)

On April 22, 1970, a celebration of the first Earth Day kicked off the modern environmental movement. Now, 46 years later, we are dealing with some of the hottest months on record, melting ice sheets, bleaching corals, and more.

However, recent and ongoing research projects offer hope for mitigating climate change challenges. Researchers are using scientific collections - from sediment cores to coral fossils - to understand ancient changes in our planet’s atmosphere and surface. This past year, our blog has highlighted efforts by earth scientists to use lessons from our past to preserve Earth’s future. Read to learn more about these studies and how people around the world are working hard to protect the planet:

A Year in the Life of "Collections in the News"

Fig.1. SciColl secretariat is housed at the National Museum of Natural History in D.C.
(Credit: Don DeBold, 2012) 

With 158 articles published and more than a year underway, Collections in the News has sought to raise awareness about ongoing research done with scientific collections. This year brought visitors from 95 countries to our blog who read about a disease detective at the National Museum of Natural History, stopped for their Monday morning coffee break each week, and had the chance to learn how microbes and mammoth bones teach us more about our world.

Some blog highlights for 2015 include article series on international efforts that work to protect the planet’s soils and address climate change problems. We also participated in GIF week with Deep Sea News and celebrated Thanksgiving with maize scientists. Read more below about these article series!

Monday Morning Coffee Break: July 27

(Credit: John A. Kelley, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service) 

#soil #soilsamples #DNA #DNAsequencing #microbes

In the News: Agriculture and Atomic Bombs

Fig.1. The Trinity Site explosion, 0.016s after the explosion on July 16, 1945. This was the first atomic bomb blast in human history (Credit: Berlyn Brixner)

Soil holds surprising secrets, from records of the first atomic bomb to evidence of how agriculture affected our stride. Read about the legacy of the Trinity Site explosion, feeding a growing population, 10 billion bacteria beneath our feet, and more!

Lessons of Ancient Soils

Fig.1. Rice fields in Vietnam (Credit: Mayur Kakade via United Nations Flickr)

Since the advent of agriculture around 12,000 years ago, soil degradation has plagued farming societies. On average, soil is only about a meter thick, but its nutrients, water, and even structure are vital for healthy plant growth. As humans modified the land for urban or agricultural use, soil became less nutrient-rich and prone to erosion.

Microbes and Middle Schools

Fig.1. Students at Mills Park Middle School studying how dandelions recruit different microbial communities in various soil types (Credit: Laura Cochrane, Mills Park Middle School).

Editor’s Note: For our third installment in the International Year of Soils series, we spoke with Dr. Julia Stevens about her work with soil microbiology and connecting students to science. To learn more about her work with middle school students, click here.

For Julia Stevens, a challenging aspect of teaching microbiology to middle schoolers is the sheer scope of something so small.

Drug Discovery in your Backyard

Fig.1. Example plates of fungi being isolated from soil samples in the Natural Products Discovery Group citizen science project at the University of Oklahoma (Credit: Candace Coker, University of Oklahoma).

Editor’s Note: For the second article in our International Year of Soils series, learn about how to find the next generation of medicine in your own backyard!

In 1928, Alexander Fleming returned from holiday to find something amazing growing on his Petri dishes. Once full of Staphylococcus bacteria, it was now growing mold. Secretions from this mold, later identified as Penicillium notatum, proved to kill a host of harmful bacteria and became the first true antibiotic. Robert Cichewicz, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Oklahoma, would classify Fleming’s bacteria-killing compounds as natural products, a term applied to many types of compounds made by cells, but are not necessary for their survival like essential proteins or lipids.

Beneath the Surface

Fig.1. Permafrost thaw ponds in Northern Canada are formed when collapse of ground levels associated with permafrost occurs and creates depressions. Such land surfaces are called thermokarst. (Credit: Steve Jurvetson via Flickr, 2008)

Editors Note: This article is the first in a series that focuses on the International Year of Soils, a global effort that aims to increase the awareness of the importance of soil for food security and the environment. Future articles of ours will address the role soil plays in these areas and why soil repositories matter.

The frozen tundra of northern Alaska may not seem like a hotbed of life on Earth, but it is actually teeming with communities of microorganisms. These microbes currently live within the frozen soil, or permafrost, of Arctic regions and will soon play a very important role in environmental change. Increased temperatures have started to thaw permafrost soils, which cover 24% of the exposed land surface in the Northern Hemisphere. As the soil thaws, microbes metabolize ancient litter and animal remains trapped underground, releasing carbon dioxide and methane gas into the atmosphere. These greenhouse gases can accelerate climate change and contribute to the vicious cycle of warming and carbon release.