Beschreibung:
For the last two centuries, humans have been changing the Earththrough their way of life. Our actions are not only causing climatechange and leading to prolonged periods of drought, they arealso leading to an overaccumulation of nutrients in soil, due toburning of fossil fuels and fertilization of agricultural fields. Bothfactors are threatening the world beneath our feet: the soils. Theymay look rather boring and lifeless, but soils are actually hometo many organisms—from tiny bacteria to agile millipedes andslimy earthworms—all of which contribute to processes that areindispensable to life on Earth. For example, the activity of theseorganisms promotes decomposition of plantmaterial, which ensuresthat the farmlands on which we grow our food remain fertile. Asalmost all soil organisms are very sensitive to changes in theirenvironments,wewanted to knowwhatwould happen if drought andover-fertilization occurred together