{"id":362,"date":"2025-10-06T12:10:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-06T18:10:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/labs.agsci.colostate.edu\/fonte\/?post_type=research&p=362"},"modified":"2025-10-29T10:49:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T16:49:06","slug":"managing-and-understanding-soil-biology-and-biodiversity","status":"publish","type":"research","link":"https:\/\/labs.agsci.colostate.edu\/fonte\/research\/managing-and-understanding-soil-biology-and-biodiversity\/","title":{"rendered":"Managing and Understanding Soil Biology and Biodiversity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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Soils are thought to comprise over 50% of global biodiversity, yet most soil organisms and their effects on multiple soil functions remain poorly understood. Our research examines soil biological communities and how soil management influences the activity and abundance of soil organisms<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Additionally, we study the impacts of soil organisms on a range of ecosystem functions, so that management practices can be tailored to best leverage the activity of beneficial soil organisms. While we consider multiple taxonomic levels (from microbes, to nematodes, to macrofauna), much of our research focuses on soil macrofauna communities, and especially soil ecosystem engineers (e.g., earthworms, ants, termites)<\/strong> that strongly influence soil structure and a range of associated soil properties.<\/p>\n

Relevant Publications<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Fonte, S.J.<\/strong>, M. Hsieh, and N.D. Mueller (2023) Earthworms contribute significantly to global food production.\u00a0Nature Communications<\/em>\u00a014: 5713.\u00a0\u00a0https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41467-023-41286-7<\/a><\/p>\n

Olayemi, O.P.<\/strong>, J.P. Schneekloth, M.D. Wallenstein, P. Trivedi, F. J. Calder\u00f3n and\u00a0S. J. Fonte<\/strong>\u00a0(2022) Soil macrofauna and microbial communities respond in similar ways to management drivers in an irrigated maize system of Colorado (USA).\u00a0Applied Soil Ecology<\/em>\u00a0178: 104562.\u00a0https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.apsoil.2022.104562<\/a><\/p>\n

Lavelle, P., et al. (2022) Soil macroinvertebrate communities. A worldwide assessment.\u00a0Global Ecology and Biogeography\u00a0<\/em>31: 1261\u20131276.\u00a0https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/geb.13492<\/a><\/p>\n

Kelly, C.<\/strong>, P. Byrne, M. Haddix, M.F. Cotrufo, M. Wallenstein, C. Kallenbach, M. Schipanski, and\u00a0S.J Fonte<\/strong>\u00a0(2022) Divergent belowground carbon patterns of winter wheat shape rhizosphere microbial communities and nitrogen cycling activities\u00a0Soil Biology and Biochemistry\u00a0<\/em>165: 108518.\u00a0https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.soilbio.2021.108518<\/a><\/p>\n

Wyckhuys, K. H. Nguyen, and\u00a0S.J. Fonte<\/strong>\u00a0(2021) Artefactual depiction of predator-prey trophic linkages in global soils.\u00a0Scientific Reports<\/em>\u00a011: 23861.\u00a0<\/em>https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41598-021-03234-7<\/a><\/p>\n

Kelly, C.<\/strong>,\u00a0S.J. Fonte<\/strong>, A. Shrestha, K.M. Daane, and J.P. Mitchell (2021) Winter cover crops and no-till promote soil macrofauna communities in irrigated, Mediterranean cropland of California.\u00a0Applied Soil Ecology<\/em>\u00a0166: 104068.\u00a0<\/em>https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.apsoil.2021.104068<\/a><\/p>\n

Ankrom, K.E.<\/strong>, A.L.C. Franco, L.\u00a0S.J. Fonte<\/strong>, A. Gherardi, C.M. de Tomasel, W.S. Andriuzzi, E.A. Shaw, E.M. O.E. Sala, and D.H. Wall (2020) Ecto- and endoparasitic nematodes respond differently across sites to changes in precipitation.\u00a0Oecologia<\/em>\u00a0193: 761-771.\u00a0https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s00442-020-04708-7<\/a><\/p>\n

Fonte, S.J.<\/strong>, C. Botero,\u00a0D.C. Quintero<\/strong>, P. Lavelle, and C. van Kessel (2019) Earthworms regulate plant productivity and efficacy of soil fertility amendments in acid soils of the Colombian Llanos.\u00a0Soil Biology and Biochemistry<\/em>\u00a0129:136-143.\u00a0https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.soilbio.2018.11.016<\/a><\/p>\n

Phillips, H.R.P., et al. (2019) Global distribution of earthworm diversity.\u00a0Science<\/em>\u00a0366: 480\u2013485.\u00a0<\/em>http:\/\/doi.org\/10.1126\/science.aax4851<\/a><\/p>\n

Related Websites<\/h3>\n

Global Soil Biodiversity<\/a><\/p>\n

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Soils are thought to comprise over 50% of global biodiversity, yet most soil organisms and their effects on multiple soil functions remain poorly understood. Our research examines soil biological communities and how soil management influences the activity and abundance of soil organisms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":446,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":true},"class_list":["post-362","research","type-research","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/labs.agsci.colostate.edu\/fonte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research\/362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/labs.agsci.colostate.edu\/fonte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/labs.agsci.colostate.edu\/fonte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/research"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labs.agsci.colostate.edu\/fonte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/labs.agsci.colostate.edu\/fonte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}