"Without Bacteria and Fungi, the Earth Would Look Like Mars"

Our soils filter drinking water and produces food. Soils only carry out these services, because they harbour thousands fungal and bacteria species which work together like the wheels in a clock mechanism. These are the conclusions reached by a study published in the renowned by researchers from Agroscope and the University of Zurich. To summarise their findings: the more species-rich the microbial community, the more ecosystem functions remain intact, which in turn has a positive impact on agriculture. "This is presumably the first study that shows that bacteria and fungi in our soils are organised into huge networks, and that these networks perform crucial functions" says Marcel van der Heijden, an agroecologist at Agroscope and the University of Zurich. "The more intertwined the network is, the more our soils can do for agriculture." In brief, the more species of bacteria and fungi that were present in the test soils, the more nutrients the plants absorbed, and the greater the number of plant species that were able to grow in them. If, however, there were only a few microorganisms in the soils, or none at all, far fewer nutrients were absorbed, and only grasses grew.