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Published: 15 September 2014

People power unearths a hidden world in WA soils

Karl Gruber

Why would 400 or more Western Australians, trowels and GPS devices in hand, take to the great outdoors to collect dirt? Because each has been involved with MicroBlitz, a world-first crowd-sourced research project that uses DNA sequencing technology to identify the many different microorganisms inhabiting soils.

Bush ranger cadets from Mount Lawley Senior High School in WA collecting soil samples on a trip to Millstream National Park.
Bush ranger cadets from Mount Lawley Senior High School in WA collecting soil samples on a trip to Millstream National Park.
Credit: Andrew Paul

The project, led by University of Western Australia (UWA) Winthrop Professor, Andrew Whiteley, is the first of its kind in Australia. It follows a pioneering 2011 study led by Professor Whiteley in the UK, in which scientists created a profile of soil bacterial communities across Great Britain.

‘We proved the concept of large-scale soil microbial mapping in the UK with trained scientists,’ said Professor Whiteley. ‘But when attempting the same approach in WA, we were faced with an area 22 times the previous map size.

‘Due to this increase in scale, we had to be creative about how we sampled over much larger distances with the staff we had. So we decided on a citizen science approach and MicroBlitz was born.’

The project’s approach is a variation on the well-known BioBlitz (and the uniquely Australian Bush Blitz) approach, where a group of volunteers work together for short period of time to collect and identify as many species as possible within a specific area.

‘MicroBlitz aims to decode the environmental genome of WA soils, much like was done for the human genome,’ explains Prof Whiteley. ‘This is the first time in the world citizen science has been used to collect and return soil samples which scientists then analyse.’

The three key people behind MicroBlitz (l. to r.) Deepak Kumaresan, Deborah Bowie and Andrew Whiteley.
The three key people behind MicroBlitz (l. to r.) Deepak Kumaresan, Deborah Bowie and Andrew Whiteley.
Credit: MicroBlitz

Why soil microbes?

Soil is a complex habitat that is home to myriad microorganisms – bacteria, fungi, protozoa and nematodes – collectively known as soil microbiota. A handful of soil can easily contain as many as 10,000 species of these tiny life-forms.

Microbiota are the main engine driving various biological and chemical reactions in the soil – including those involved in land rehabilitation, biodiversity conservation, soil productivity, plant growth, decomposition, and greenhouse gas regulation.

For instance, soil microbes play a key role in establishing and regulating plant diversity. A 2007 study suggested that as many as 20,000 plant species depend on these microbes for growth and survival, especially in nutrient-poor soils.

This plant root/microbe intimacy occurs in the tiny cosmos known as the rhizosphere – the soil envelope immediately surrounding the roots. Here, bacteria and other microorganisms continually feed on plant secretions and dead cells shed by the roots, and share organic and inorganic nutrients with their host plant.

<i>Rhizobium</i> spp. are nitrogen-fixing bacteria that convert atmospheric nitrogen, which is unavailable to plants, into forms available for plant uptake. They typically form symbiotic nodules on the roots of legume crops (clover, lucerne, beans, etc.) and other legumes (such as acacia and cassia).
Rhizobium spp. are nitrogen-fixing bacteria that convert atmospheric nitrogen, which is unavailable to plants, into forms available for plant uptake. They typically form symbiotic nodules on the roots of legume crops (clover, lucerne, beans, etc.) and other legumes (such as acacia and cassia).
Credit: CSIRO/scienceimage

In a recent study Dr Kristiina Karhu from the University of Helsinki examined how soil microbes can influence global processes including those that determine atmospheric carbon levels. She found that the interplay of global rising temperatures and soil microbes may have far-reaching consequences.

‘Our findings suggest that warming will increase the activity of soil microbes to a greater extent than was previously expected, which could have implications for future rates of climate change,’ said Dr Karhu.

One of the best studied aspects of soil microbiota is their intimate relationship with plants. Dr Roeland Berendsen, a microbiologist from Utrecht University in The Netherlands, has said that microbial communities can improve the health of agronomically important plants – for example, through increased nutrient availability, pathogen protection, and growth stimulation. MicroBlitz should add to the world’s knowledge about these relationships.

Getting the dirt

Since MicroBlitz began in March 2013, more than 2000 sampling kits have been mailed to volunteers located across WA; more than 1500 of these have been analysed by the MicroBlitz team.

‘As well as the general public MicroBlitz recruits and trains UWA student volunteers as interns, it is a win-win situation which provides the project with helping hands and provides students with valuable and highly relevant work experience opportunities,’ said Deborah Bowie, the MicroBlitz project manager.

Prof Andy Whiteley runs a DNA extraction exercise for Year 2-3 students from Great Southern Grammar in Albany, WA.
Prof Andy Whiteley runs a DNA extraction exercise for Year 2-3 students from Great Southern Grammar in Albany, WA.
Credit: Kanako Tomita

In a typical week, the team at the UWA lab would receive 10 or more soil samples. Each contains one or more 200-gram bags of soil, a completed site record sheet (detailing GPS coordinates, etc.) and a re-usable string and peg quadrat for marking out the sample site.

Around 5 g of the sampled soil is put aside for archiving and genetic analysis – these days, costing as little as $20 per sample – in which a fragment of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene is sequenced. This gene serves as a sort of species barcode that helps assess microbial identity. The remainder of the soil sample is kept for chemical analysis, including measuring levels of carbon, nitrogen and potassium.

Genes tell a story

Armed with the genetic information derived from MicroBlitz, Prof Whiteley and his team will be able to identify the many different microbial species inhabiting WA’s soils. This will enable them to construct a map of soil microbes across the state, and to determine which microbial profile is linked to a particular type of vegetation.

‘Downstream analyses [will] allow us to determine what constitutes a “good” versus “bad” microbial community for things such as agriculture and rehabilitation efforts,’ says Prof Whiteley.

‘Much the same way that a disease and cure are referenced to databases of symptoms and treatments, we aim to use this strategy to monitor and diagnose the health of the soils and actions that may be needed to improve that soil health.

‘Once we know which microbial communities are linked to a poor-yielding crop and where they are located, for example, more efficient strategies can be developed to make better use of this particular soil.

‘In the longer term, we would like to integrate our soil microbial data with other large-scale biological datasets, to examine links between soils, plants and the fauna around them on much larger landscape and continental scales.’

People of all ages are involved with MicroBlitz: at this workshop for seniors, participants learned how to do DNA extraction.
People of all ages are involved with MicroBlitz: at this workshop for seniors, participants learned how to do DNA extraction.
Credit: Sharlene Boey

While the MicroBlitz team is still collecting samples and crunching data, some preliminary results are already at hand from a 2013 survey of soil samples from farming areas around Albany.

In the study, led by UWA Honours student Sharlene Boey, genetic analysis of the soils sampled revealed they predominately hosted bacteria belonging to the phylum Firmicutes.

Bacteria from this phylum are not commonly found at such high levels in soils. They are known for their ability to generate drought-resistant spores, so their presence may hint at the environmental conditions that have influenced this soil.

‘These initial results suggest that our WA soils may represent quite a harsh environment for soil microbes,’ said Professor Whiteley.

‘The key now is to see if this pattern is repeated over the state and how these major groups contribute to the way our soils function.

The MicroBlitz data prised from WA’s soils could answer a host of other questions. For a start, Dr Berendsen would like to know, ‘Where do the bacteria that influence our lives reside when they are not on their (human/animal/plant) host?’







Published: 4 July 2011

Assured sustainability reporting – navigating obligations

Nick Fleming

As the way in which organisations address environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues comes under increasing scrutiny, sustainability reporting is gathering importance and momentum. Yet reporting must be seen as a product of sustainable business practices, not the focus of it.

Emphasis on more robust sustainability reporting is helping to drive the wider assessment and reform of companies’ associated supply chains and logistics infrastructure.
Emphasis on more robust sustainability reporting is helping to drive the wider assessment and reform of companies’ associated supply chains and logistics infrastructure.
Credit: iStockphoto

While sustainability reporting is new territory for some organisations, many leading businesses have been engaged in reporting for over a decade. Indeed, sustainability reporting is typically one of the first vehicles for engagement with the topic and issues of sustainability, often at the encouragement of a few passionate staff.

However, the call for greater organisational accountability and transparency is growing. An increasing number of shareholder resolutions are placing pressure on company boards to ensure they are effectively identifying, disclosing and addressing ESG risks. Institutional investors are already using ESG data to differentiate firms and guide investment decisions.1

Powerful customers are also forcing their suppliers to become more transparent. The classic example is Walmart, which launched a supplier sustainability initiative in July 2009. Locally, Woolworths recently announced its own Sustainable Fish Sourcing Strategy.2

There is also an expectation for assurance. This reflects a stakeholder desire for reports to be relevant, reliable and free from bias, while the reporting organisation wishes to build a case for lower costs for finance and insurance. This all takes time and money; reporting can be a costly exercise and carries risks.

The banking sector provides an insight to the challenges posed by sustainability reporting. In Australia, banks have typically lead sustainability reporting and have performed well against international benchmarks such as the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. Yet this year, the big four banks have been publically criticised over their involvement with coal-fired power stations.3 People ask how an organisation that receives sustainability accolades can also finance environmental pollution. This questions the connectivity between sustainability reporting and governance.

Scrutiny is also being applied by the regulators. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has prosecuted cases against companies such as GM Holden and Prime Carbon for overstating their ‘green’ credentials. It’s clear that inaccurate communication on ESG matters presents serious risks to an organisation’s reputation – and that of the rating or assurance agency.

These issues have been behind recent reviews of reporting guidelines and benchmarking methods.4,5 The reviews found that ratings and reporting tend to be backward-looking measures of compliance with ‘good practice’, failing to enable a meaningful assessment of an organisation’s ability to create and sustain value, in the short and longer term.

What’s lacking is adequate interrogation and reporting of the strategic capabilities and the core competencies required to underpin business continuity and delivery of sustainable outcomes; that is, a truly sustainable enterprise.

However, the push for integrated financial and non-financial (sustainability) reporting may offer a silver lining – the trigger to focus conversations among executives and boards about the things that will drive genuine business continuity, profitability and sustainability. Without these conversations, there will neither be the understanding, focus nor commitment to cultivate truly sustainable enterprises.

The adage ‘What gets measured gets managed’ remains true; as does ‘It’s what you do, not what you say, that counts’. Reporting without subsequent actions to manage risks and create value is meaningless, and arguably harmful.

While there are growing market and stakeholder pressures for integrated reporting of financial and ESG matters, reporting should only be entered into with an eye on:

  1. material business risks

  2. core competencies for organisational continuity

  3. a core set of meaningful performance measures that offer real insight

  4. integrating reporting into governance

  5. commitment to real action in response to identified risks and opportunities.

Organisations that assume this approach take sustainability reporting beyond a ‘nice?to?have’ PR exercise to a ‘must?have’ business improvement tool. It’s a factor in the superior financial performance demonstrated by ethical and sustainable organisations. Getting it right is good for business – and good for communities.

Dr Nick Fleming is Chief Sustainability Officer Sinclair Knight Merz, leading the application of sustainability thinking in business operations and client services. Through his Sustainable Enterprise column, Nick provides insight to how businesses and organisations are effectively putting sustainability theory into practice.


1 Ernst & Young (2011). Shareholders press boards on social and environmental risks. tinyurl.com/social-environmental-risks
2 tinyurl.com/sustainable-fish
3 Greenpeace (2011). Pillars of pollution. www.greenpeace.org.au/climate/GI-profundo.php
4 Eccles RG, Cheng B, Saltzman D (Eds) (2010). The landscape of integrated reporting: reflections and next steps. Harvard Business School. tinyurl.com/integrated-reporting
5 SustainAbility (2011). Rate the raters: uncovering best practices. www.sustainability.com/library/rate-the-raters-phase-one




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