- Soils -
Where life on land springs
Soils, unlike animals and plants, are not alive in the strict sense, but they are full of live, and have complex properties that make them unique. The soil is the waferthin outer layer of the earth's crust in which plants can grow. It is the basis of all terrestrial ecosystems and it acts as a gateway for elements crucial for life across the great biogeochemical cycles, connecting it to life anywhere else on the planet. At the same time, it is one of the least talked about spheres of Earth, mainly because we do not really see easily what goes on in the soil. It is all hidden in a microcosmos below our feet.
Read:
- Catalonia's unique soils: impressions of the WRB excursion of 2023.
- Drought, Doñana and the Queen of the Marshes.
- Ukraine's chernozems: when bombs hit the ground.
- The Dust Bowl comes to Spain: desertification and soil erosion.
- Ukraine's black gold and the world's most fertile soils.
- The nitrogen cycle: a story of food, bacteria and war.
- Soil salinization: putting food security at risk.