Photo: Credit Adam Cobb. A herd of bison at the Konza Prairie Biological Station in Manhattan, KS, USA. The perennial grasses that historically supported 30-60 million bison on the Great Plains of North America are incredibly dependent on AM fungi. By facilitating the nutrition of plants, our tiny soil allies help shape the world we love.
Webinar Overview
Photo: Credit Adam Cobb. Sorghum bicolor was grown with AM fungi (left) or without AM fungi (right) in consistent environmental conditions. In this experiment, a range of host plant mycorrhizal growth responses from approximately 50-900% were observed.
Dr. Adam Cobb will explore our ‘tiny allies’ in the soil, using the example of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi to highlight how soil food webs create the conditions for life to flourish. Didi Pershouse will discuss how landscapes function as a whole, and how the soil sponge is the vital infrastructure that regulates ecosystems. She will present how soil biology, plants, and other forms of life are the essential workforce of our biosphere. For example, fungi entangle soil particles to improve aggregation, facilitating conditions for a thriving soil food web and enhancing the soil sponge.
The biosphere contains wonderous organisms, such as mycorrhizal fungi in soil. If we learn to work with these tiny allies, rather than against them, there is hope for a future where life is protected, ecosystem health is restored, and human needs are provided for, without degradation of our planet.
About our Panelists:
Dr. Adam Cobb’s time in graduate school cultivated a broad vision for restoring living soils and utilizing research and community engagement to address current and emerging global food production challenges. Adam has authored 21 research publications on agroecology and plant-microbial symbioses. Adam joined The Soil Food Web School in 2021, following his dream to help regenerate soils, improve human nutrition, and protect our planet.
Didi Pershouse is the founder of the Land and Leadership Initiative, and the author of two books: The Ecology of Care: Medicine, Agriculture, Money, and Quiet Power of Human and Microbial Communities, and Understanding Soil Health and Watershed Function. Didi teaches the Soil Sponge Regeneration Workshop through the Soil Food Web School.
The Soil Food Web School was founded by Dr. Elaine Ingham after she had spent over 30 years working with farmers on 6 continents to develop her holistic and scientific method of rapidly restoring the soil biome.
Our host, Dr. Adrienne Godschalx, has a deep love for plants, insects, and the interactions between them. She is a Soil Food Web School Mentor and Researcher.
The biosphere contains wonderous organisms, such as mycorrhizal fungi in soil. If we learn to work with these tiny allies, rather than against them, there is hope for a future where life is protected, ecosystem health is restored, and human needs are provided for, without degradation of our planet.
About our Panelists:
Dr. Adam Cobb’s time in graduate school cultivated a broad vision for restoring living soils and utilizing research and community engagement to address current and emerging global food production challenges. Adam has authored 21 research publications on agroecology and plant-microbial symbioses. Adam joined The Soil Food Web School in 2021, following his dream to help regenerate soils, improve human nutrition, and protect our planet.
Didi Pershouse is the founder of the Land and Leadership Initiative, and the author of two books: The Ecology of Care: Medicine, Agriculture, Money, and Quiet Power of Human and Microbial Communities, and Understanding Soil Health and Watershed Function. Didi teaches the Soil Sponge Regeneration Workshop through the Soil Food Web School.
The Soil Food Web School was founded by Dr. Elaine Ingham after she had spent over 30 years working with farmers on 6 continents to develop her holistic and scientific method of rapidly restoring the soil biome.
Our host, Dr. Adrienne Godschalx, has a deep love for plants, insects, and the interactions between them. She is a Soil Food Web School Mentor and Researcher.
