If the soil organic carbon is improved the soil diversity will increase. The way to do this is to baseline the soil conditions then make a soil conservation and improvement plan. As the plan is executed the producer follows the results and makes changes as needed. The best documented plans should be submitted in a competition and the best examples given an award and discussion of how they did it.

Soil organic carbon and soil biodiversity have synergistic effect. Increasing soil carbon store will dramatically improve diversity of soil microbes. Because carbon is the main source of energy for microbes. Dead microbial biomass by itself is source of organic carbon.

The main concept to link soil biodiversity and soil organic carbon lies on maintaining soil health (reducing tillage practices, improving OM content of soils, controlling soil erosion, and the like).

It is not realistic to ensure sustainable development by ignoring other factors. Even potentiality of soil biodiversity and carbon sequestration depends on the existing of land management practices.

Here another interesting thing is Plant biodiversity which was missing in this discussion. increasing Plant biodiversity enhances C assimilation by surrounding plants. Thus more C is allocated to roots and Mycorrhizal fungi, a key mechanisms for SOC sequestration. in turn SOC sequestration enhances soil biodiversity.

So, enhancing plant biodiversity=soil biodiversity

thank you all for the

answers

Soil biodiversity and SOC play important role in carbon sequestration. in terrestrial ecosystem the above ground biomass is not only responsible major carbon sequestration but equal share is from soil which directly and indirectly provide substratum for carbon sequestration . Soil microbial activity and organic matter are complementary related and finally ad up to total carbon sequestration.

Carbon sequestration process is normally related to 4 pools: aboveground biomass, below ground biomass, soil, and dead organic matter. Soil organic matter is the organic component of soil, and represents the largest terrestrial carbon pool.

Soils are some of the most species-rich habitats on earth. Many of these species are essential for the functional diversity and resilience of the soil and the ecosystems that depend on the soil. Soil Biodiversity is an indicator of soil quality: a higher species diversity results in greater soil stability in terms of its capacity to perform key functions such as cycling of nutrients, assimilation of organic wastes, and maintenance of soil structure.

Soil Organic Matter (SOM) encompasses all of the organic components of a soil, including living biomass (intact plant and animal tissues and microorganisms), dead roots and other plant residues and dead tissue, and soil humus. SOM and the debris of dead tissues left by plants and animals (detritus) is essential for biological activity in the soil and is the main source of energy, nutrients and habitat for the vast majority of soil organisms. Soil Organic Carbon makes up approximately 50-60% of SOM. An estimation of SOM is usually made by measurement of SOC, with application of a factor of 1.9 to 2 for converting SOC to SOM

The above information were collected from the following report

https://portals.iucn.org/library/sites/library/files/documents/2018-004-En.pdf

thanks

Take a look at Tilman and his team showing the stability of productivity after drought is a function of species in the prairie. In order to optimize the plant interaction 8 to 12 species are required. The ability to recover from drought is often correlated with soil organic matter accrual which serves as mechanism. When the diverse species work together they can help improve the soil environment related to soil organic matter accumulation. The soil organic matter helps avoid and mitigate drought effects and the accumulation can counteract the atmospheric greenhouse gas. The perennial grasslands are diverse grass and forb mixtures which optimize the soil organic matter situation but also have less carbon footprint because they are not repeatedly tilled and dependent on agrichemical inputs.

One the great contributors to carbon and nitrogen sequestration is symbiosis. In the monocultural system diversity is the enemy but our diversity in natural ecosystem is the friend. While Nitrogen from chemical sources such as ammoniated fertilizer has significant carbon footprint and lead to acidification health issues and fouling of the water system and the environment, almost 80% of the atmosphere is dinitrogen gas which is accessible by natural biological fixing microbes. The rhizobia bacteria of legumes are a prime example. Another prominent symbiosis is the mycorrhizal fungi which greatly extend the ability of roots to provide water and scarce immobile nutrients from soil to the plants. The protective coating of mycorrhizal fungi is a glycoprotein which has great ability to stick around in soil sticking the particles into persistent aggregated complexes which serve to drain and retain scarce soil water. The resistance of glomalin is an important contribution to retaining carbon is a mechanism for carbon sequestration. In biological approaches the diversity found in symbiotic synergistic systems provide an ability to reduce agrichemical inputs and increase the bottomline of soil organic matter improvement. Microbes are not the enemies but our friends and diversity can do things monocultures cannot dream of. This suggests a need to shift our paradigms. One of doing this is to focus on the bottomline measurements of what is going on in the soil and set goals and methodologies which will be monitored and adapted.

Definitely increased soil organic matter concentration in soil improves soil microbial biodiversity.

Besides the baseline of our soils and the development and application of soil improvement plans it would be useful from a governmental level to give incentives and emphasis which would have an emphasis in the educational extenstion and business communities.

Hi,

1. Education, Education, Education!

2. To prove first hand that soil biodiversity and soil organic carbon sequestration are important, and contribute to highly productive soils sustainably, you need to witness first hand the fruits of permaculture.

3. And then demonstrate that higher the %age of flora and fauna in soil, greater the yields, but not at the cost of soil health, not for one season, but over the years, continuously.

4. Once this is demonstrated succesfully in an exhibition plot for all to see, and the results published, you can go ahead and unhesistatingly link the above to SDG's.

Hope this helps.

Best.