![Researchers have been using audio technology to monitor the health of soils. Picture supplied Researchers have been using audio technology to monitor the health of soils. Picture supplied](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/Fuxf4VmvfUmd225xeYC69T/a2b0d432-80f9-4100-ad4c-5996fc82960c.JPG/r0_47_847_523_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Healthy soils can have a certain ring to them, according to a recent research project.
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Ecologists in the United Kingdom and Australia have been using audio technology to record the different types of sounds in the soils of degraded and restored forest to indicate the health of ecosystems.
Flinders University researcher Jake Robinson, who conducted the study while at the University of Sheffield in England, said non-invasive acoustic monitoring had great potential for scientists to gather long-term information on species.
"Eco-acoustics can measure the health lf landscapes affected by farming, mining and deforestation but can also monitor their recovery following revegetation," he said
"From earthworms and plant roots to shifting soils and other underground activity, these subtle sounds were stronger and more diverse in healthy soils - once background noise was blocked out."
The subterranean study used special microphones to collect almost 200 sound samples, each about three minutes long, from soil samples collected in restored and cleared forests in South Yorkshire, England.
"Like underwater and above-ground acoustic monitoring, below-ground biodiversity monitoring using eco-acoustics has great potential," said co-author Martin Breed, Flinders University.
![Flinders University researcher Jake Robinson says microbes play an important role. Picture supplied Flinders University researcher Jake Robinson says microbes play an important role. Picture supplied](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/Fuxf4VmvfUmd225xeYC69T/fc42ddce-7873-42f1-84ca-9135d3929fd7.JPG/r0_77_733_566_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Since joining Flinders University, Dr Robinson has released his first book, Invisible Friends, which covers his core research into 'how microbes in the environment shape our lives and the world around us'.
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"Instead of considering microbes the bane of our life, as we have done during the global pandemic, we should appreciate the many benefits they bring in keeping plants animals, and ourselves, alive," he said.
"It's important to remember that healthy soils feed the air with these diverse microbes."