Professor Håkan Wallander presenting at the Summer of Soil

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This month the Summer of Soil presents the Living Soil Forum, a 5-day program designed to activate and empower people to secure a better future for our soils. From July 22-26 participants can attend presentations from international experts on issues of soil sustainability, film, discussion groups, and experience field work opportunities, all to better connect people and ideas around solutions that work to secure and restore healthy, living soils.

Professor Håkan Wallander, of Lund University, and representing the GSBI, will be presenting July 25th, A closer look at soil: Re-examining soil and its importance for biodiversity, food security, climate stability and healthy living systems. Dr. Wallander is a professor in soil biology and environmental sciences, working with ectomycorrhizal fungi that form symbiotic relationships with trees. They produce several hundreds of kilograms of mycelia per hectare every year in most forest ecosystems. This is important for nutrient uptake of the trees, but also for carbon sequestration and N retention in the soil. His main research interest is to understand how this flux of belowground carbon is regulated, and how important the composition of the ectomycorrhizal community is for carbon sequestration and nutrient uptake. Find out more about Dr. Wallander’s research at his university website: http://www4.lu.se/o.o.i.s/28390

Dr. Wallander has recently released a book “Soil: Reflections on the foundation of our existence.” http://www.atlantisbok.se/layout/detail.php?id=7710

For more information and the full program visit: http://www.summerofsoil.se/forum/