Genomic-enabled analysis of soil biological networks sustaining agro-ecosystem equilibrium

Funding period: 2019-2024
Lead: Lori Phillips
Total GRDI funding: $429,140

Canadian farmers are under increased pressure to produce more food on the same or less land, in a manner that amplifies and sustains production while at same time reducing the environmental footprint. We know that the interactions and activities of soil biological communities support a range of ecosystem goods and services, from enhanced drought resilience through to pathogen suppression. Despite the obvious importance of soil biotic interactions, we still do not know what comprises a healthy and resilient biological community, and whether that community can be specifically managed to augment the provision of ecosystem goods and services. We propose to develop an AAFC soil microbiome platform, building off the success of a current Canadian interdepartmental project (EcoBiomics: Metagenomic-Based Ecosystem Biomonitoring; https://grdi.canada.ca/en), to both add value to and facilitate collaborative exploration of these soil microbiome sequencing efforts. Our core objectives are to consolidate current agricultural soil microbiome sequencing datasets into a centralized platform; identify gaps linked to ecosystem goods and services in consolidated sequencing datasets; facilitate inter-operability of soil microbiome datasets; develop bio-banking protocols for soil and soil-DNA to preserve material for future research needs; work with collections experts (e.g. CABI; www.cabi.org) to ensure international recommendations are met; and establish agricultural Genomic Observatories to serve as pillars from which to monitor long-term changes in soil microbiomes in the context of The Global Omics Observatory Network (GLOMICON).