Can Ecoacoustics be used to Monitor Soil Health?

There is no doubt that new technology must be and is being developed to monitor the above- and below-ground environment that supports plants that are grown for food and fiber. Such monitoring can be used to determine if a plant’s growing environment is “healthy”–i.e., is it capable of supplying the resources needed for optimal production of the crop being grown?

A “healthy” soil is required for sustained high-yield crop production. There are myriad definitions for soil health, and most incorporate soil biology into their definition. Soil biology is the sum of the “living” components of a given soil, and is arguably the most important part of a “healthy” soil. However, to objectively evaluate soil health, there must be an accurate and repeatable way to measure its components.

In an article titled “It’s a rave: Underground acoustics amplify soil health”, research results about a potential way of measuring soil biology that are reported in an article titled “Sounds of the underground reflect soil biodiversity dynamics across a grassy woodland restoration chronosequence” are highlighted. Summary points from that research follow.

•   Healthy soils produce a cacophony of sounds that can be used to measure the diversity of the invertebrate population of soil.

•   All living organisms produce sounds that are unique to their species, and ecoacoustics, though still in the early stages of testing, is emerging as a potential tool for detecting and monitoring a portion of soil biodiversity.

•   According to the senior author of the above research paper, the acoustic complexity and diversity of the sounds emanating from soil are associated with the abundance and richness of the invertebrate population of that soil.

•   The results reported in the above journal paper provide support for using ecoacoustics to monitor a portion of soil biodiversity.

•   Further research is needed to determine if this technology can be used to monitor soil invertebrate biodiversity in myriad agricultural settings. However, the preliminary research reported in this paper indicates that soil ecoacoustics offers a promising tool for understanding and monitoring a portion of soil biodiversity.

This technology is certainly in the preliminary stages of testing, and may seem far-fetched at this time. However, if in fact it can be used to delineate the species that are present in soil, as well as determine the diversity of the soil’s invertebrate population, then it will certainly become a major tool to measure soil health as exemplified by the invertebrate species present in the soil. Remember, healthy/healthier soils will be needed if producers are to continue to produce greater crop yields that have quality attributes demanded by consumers.

Two things are certain in agriculture. 1) There are fewer people available to perform farm labor, and 2) resistance to pesticides is increasing and here to stay. Thus, all crop producers must be aware of and willing to try technology that can be used in lieu of labor and pesticides. After all, society is neither willing to accept nor capable of understanding that sustainable/increased food production will not automatically occur if the technology to measure resource quality needed to produce a crop is not forthcoming. Thus, producers are in constant need of new tools they can use to produce the increasing amount of food that is assumed to be in the offing to feed an increasing world population.

Composed by Larry G. Heatherly, Aug. 2024, larryh91746@gmail.com