Join us for the fourth public lecture in the 2017-18 series.

March's talk is from Dr Robin Sen, Reader in Soil Microbial Ecology and Biotechnology

Soil microbial diversity, interactions and applications: a personal review

A major life support system - the Earth’s soils - is being increasingly threatened as a consequence of unsustainable soil degradation and loss. In response, the UN designated 2015 the “International Year of Soils” that has successfully raised ‘soil’ awareness through research informed education, policy and public outreach activities. So crucial at a time of growing concerns regarding global food security, ecosystem services and climate change. I will introduce soil as a microbe rich habitat particularly defined by microbe-microbe and microbe-plant interactions and highlight some of our findings spanning the pre- and post-DNA revolution targeting agriculture and forest, grassland, peatbog and desert ecosystems. These and our most recent geomicrobiology data from glacier systems will be discussed in relation to application and/or management of soil microbes in conservation and rehabilitation of degraded soils now identified as priority areas both in the UN-FAO “World Soil Charter” and UK Government’s 25 year ‘’Green Future” strategy.

Refreshments will be available from 17:30 with the talk starting at 18:00. This will last around 45 minutes and will be followed by a Q&A session and a drinks reception. Please email engage@mmu.ac.uk if you have any questions.

To register, please visit: https://soilmicrobial.eventbrite.co.uk