Life in the Soil brings you the insights and voices of some of the world’s best soil scientists. Learn about soil biodiversity, why it matters, and how we can protect it. This podcast project is a collaboration between the Rillig Lab and podcaster Anja Krieger, funded through the BiodivERsA project Digging Deeper. Matthias Rillig’s lab at Freie Universität Berlin is part of the Institute of Biology and the Berlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB). Our research fo ...
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Soil is full of amazing life with its own intrinsic value. Just like many other species, we humans benefit from it: Healthy soil not only provides food, feed, fiber and fuel, it also contributes to the stability of the whole Earth system. But living soils are at risk all around the world. So, in this episode, podcaster Anja Krieger and soil ecologi…
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The list of how humans are causing trouble in the soil is pretty mind-blowing, kind of overwhelming. It’s connected to all that is central to our modern human societies - industrial agriculture, synthetic chemistry, city sprawl, global mobility and so on and on. In this episode, Matthias Rillig, Anja Krieger and their guests Maddy Thakur and Asmere…
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If you dig out a handful of soil, or a whole bucket full, what do you see? Really, not that much? Well, yes, that’s one reason the study of soil is such a challenge. It’s a lot of stuff mushed together, crumbs, roots, dead stuff, critters. Soil is a very complex, intensely 3D-structured environment. How do you map that landscape? In order to look a…
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In this episode, Anja and Matthias take you on an underground safari through the hidden jungle of the soil. And they’ve won some excellent scientists as tour guides. You’ll hear from Diana Wall about a tiny worm that is so tough it even lives in Antarctica or hot deserts. Richard Bardgett introduces you to collembola, also known as springtails - ti…
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Hundreds of millions of years ago, plants started to colonize the land. But amazingly, they did this without roots. So how on Earth did these early plants feed themselves? It looks like they found some helpful friends: A group of fungi provided them with nutrients from the ground, fossils suggest. Today, the vast majority of plants team up with the…
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There’s a crazy place beneath your feet, a jungle of sand, silt, and clay, of solids and pores. Some of the most diverse and overlooked communities on Earth live here, in a world unlike anything we know - completely dark, of tiny proportions, and full of surprises. Even the air and water aren’t the same. Soils and their inhabitants play a huge role…
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There’s a hidden world beneath your feet, the world of earthworms, springtails, fungi, and bacteria. We hardly ever see these little creatures, but their impacts are huge. In fact, the world just wouldn't be the same without them. Soil stores more carbon than the atmosphere and all plants together, filters water, is pivotal for biodiversity and at …
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