How does human activity shape the diversity of microbial communities in forest soils?
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Project description
According to the biodiversity hypothesis, forests provide us with a wide range of microbial contacts and improve immune defense and prevent disease. Currently, human impacts such as silviculture practices and urbanization are reshaping forest habitats at a rate that organisms cannot or do not have time to adapt. These changes can also be reflected in the structure and diversity of forest microbial communities and, further, in the health of humans and other species living in the forest. Increasing the disease burden in non-human animals is also harmful to humans, as it can increase the risk of zoonotic diseases.
The project will provide new data on how human activities shape the diversity of forest soil microbial communities, the well-being of other species living in forests and the resulting disease threat to humans.
The strength of the project lies in the close cooperation between researchers from the Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥ and the University of Helsinki, as well as environmental and art educators from the Evolution in action -project which enables the latest research findings to be quickly transferred into openly available teaching materials and made available to educators. The project increases understanding of how human activities shape forest interactions and provides tools to make human activities more sustainable.
