About This Project

Studies evaluating biodiversity on Indigenous lands do not consider microbial diversity. We aim to demonstrate how Indigenous land stewardship practices have affected microbial diversity and may protect Indigenous cultural heritage. We will evaluate microbial diversity, species richness and functionality of Arizona lands managed by Indigenous communities using NASA’s Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center and the Earth Microbiome Project.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

Soil is an ecosystem that has been managed to provide nutrients for plant growth, traditional foods and animals vital to Indigenous food systems. Healthy and biologically diverse soils can mean higher crop productivity, less dependency on fertilizers and pesticides, and better water quality. Indigenous land care ethics and traditional ecological knowledge are recognized as important drivers to increased biodiversity, but this has yet been applied to the emerging field of soil health. Quantifying below ground biodiversity is vital to accurately measuring dynamic ecosystems managed by Indigenous communities and can be a powerful metric in supporting the revitalization of Indigenous stewardship practices in a changing climatic environment.

What is the significance of this project?

Land in an Indigenous context is a nexus for culture, identity and health. Colonization changed land management practices, altering both above and below ground biodiversity. Areas with more microbial biodiversity and high species richness promotes interspecies relationships which can allow for more flexible responses to climate change. Although microorganisms are vital in regulating climate, they are rarely the focus of climate change studies in Indigenous communities, which are disproportionally being impacted by the climate crisis. Quantifying soil microbial biodiversity is vital to understanding Arizona land management and their resiliency to increased desertification.

What are the goals of the project?

This project is a preliminary exploration of Arizona land management. We will compare three regional areas, with different land management strategies, i.e.: Tribal lands, State Parks and National Parks. We will quantify the microbial biodiversity using 16S rRNA data from the Earth Microbiome Project, evaluate land use data from NASA’s Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center, in addition to assessing climate variables. We aim to demonstrate the interlinkages between Indigenous stewardship, biodiversity, landscapes, and cultural values. By completing this preliminary quantification of below ground soil biodiversity in Arizona, we aim to better understand the feasibility of this method and if it can be applied to broader regional and national assessments of soil biodiversity.