The OPAL Soil Centre is one of five centres of expertise under the Open Air Laboratories Network (OPAL). The OPAL Soil Centre is based at the Centre for Environmental Policy at

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

. The OPAL Soil Centre has high-profile partners including the

Environment Agency The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and enha ...

British Geological Survey The British Geological Survey (BGS) is a partly publicly funded body which aims to advance geoscientific knowledge of the United Kingdom landmass and its continental shelf by means of systematic surveying, monitoring and research. The BGS h ...

, and the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more. ...

Soil and Earthworm Survey

The OPAL Soil Centre developed the OPAL Soil and Earthworm Survey, a national public survey of the

soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life. Some scientific definitions distinguish ''dirt'' from ''soil'' by restricting the former te ...

and

earthworms An earthworm is a terrestrial invertebrate that belongs to the phylum Annelida. They exhibit a tube-within-a-tube body plan; they are externally segmented with corresponding internal segmentation; and they usually have setae on all segments. Th ...

in England. The survey was launched in March 2009 supported by a number of celebrities including

Steve Leonard Stephen Leonard (born 4 September 1972 in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland) is a Northern Irish veterinarian and television personality. Early life Leonard's family moved to Cheshire from Northern Ireland when he was six weeks ol ...

and

Chris Packham Christopher Gary Packham CBE (born 4 May 1961) is an English naturalist, nature photographer, television presenter and author, best known for his television work including the CBBC children's nature series ''The Really Wild Show'' from 1986 t ...

. The survey asks members of the public to go out to their gardens, parks, playing fields or anywhere with soil and collect information about the habitat, soil and to count and identify any earthworms they find. The results of the survey can be uploaded onto the OPAL website where participants can see their results appear on a map alongside other results. Results from the survey will be analysed by the OPAL Soil Centre to investigate the distribution of soils and earthworms across the England, and to investigate the effects that humans are having on soils. The Soil and Earthworm Survey was featured on ''

The One Show ''The One Show'' is a British television magazine and chat show programme. Broadcast live on BBC One weeknights at 7:00 pm, it features topical stories and studio guests. It is currently co-hosted by Alex Jones, Jermaine Jenas, and Ronan K ...

'' on 23 March 2009 with a piece presented by

George McGavin George C. McGavin is a British entomologist, author, academic, television presenter and explorer. Background McGavin attended Daniel Stewart's College, a private school in Edinburgh, then studied Zoology at the University of Edinburgh from ...

. The centre is based at the Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London, under the overall direction of Dr Nick Voulvoulis.

Centre Aims

* Provide information, resources and training on

soil quality Soil quality refers to the condition of soil based on its capacity to perform ecosystem services that meet the needs of human and non-human life.Tóth, G., Stolbovoy, V. and Montanarella, 2007. Soil Quality and Sustainability Evaluation - An integr ...

and

soil biodiversity Soil biodiversity refers to the relationship of soil to biodiversity and to aspects of the soil that can be managed in relative to biodiversity. Soil biodiversity relates to some catchment management considerations. Biodiversity According to the ...

at the community level. * Coordinate a national survey to discover the degree of awareness and understanding of soil quality and ecosystems in England. * Carry out research into pollution sources and their pathways in soil and the way that they affect soil systems.

Scientific Objectives

The OPAL Soil Centre is coordinating an England-wide survey on soil and their earthworm populations. The survey complements research the centre is carrying out into soils and soil quality. Research is focused on the interaction with pollution, other environmental media, and human and ecosystem health. The effects of anthropogenic activities including waste and land management practices to soils is an ongoing research theme.

References

External links

OPAL Soil CentreOPAL WebsiteImperial CollegeEnvironment AgencyBritish Geological SurveyNatural History Museum
{{Authority control Soil and crop science organizations Research institutes of Imperial College London Environmental research institutes

Soil and Earthworm Survey

Centre Aims

Scientific Objectives

See also

References

External links