title: Soil biodiversity and human health.
abstract: Soil biodiversity is increasingly recognized as providing benefits to human health because it can suppress disease-causing soil organisms and provide clean air, water and food. Poor land-management practices and environmental change are, however, affecting belowground communities globally, and the resulting declines in soil biodiversity reduce and impair these benefits. Importantly, current research indicates that soil biodiversity can be maintained and partially restored if managed sustainably. Promoting the ecological complexity and robustness of soil biodiversity through improved management practices represents an underutilized resource with the ability to improve human health.
authors.affiliation: School of Global Environmental Sustainability and Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523-1036, USA.
authors.forename: Diana H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Wall
authors.affiliation: Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Locked Bag 1797, Western Sydney University, Penrith, New South Wales 2751, Australia.
authors.forename: Uffe N
authors.initials: UN
authors.lastname: Nielsen
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Systems Science, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ETH-Zurich, Zurich 8092, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Johan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Six
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D000818:Animals; D000871:Anthelmintics / Q000494:pharmacology; D000881:Anthrax / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D001272:Atmosphere / Q000737:chemistry; D001408:Bacillus anthracis / Q000302:isolation & purification; D044822:Biodiversity; D018533:Biomass; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D060766:Drinking Water; D004351:Drug Resistance; D020387:Food Chain; D006262:Health; D006376:Helminths / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D006967:Hypersensitivity / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000382:microbiology / Q000469:parasitology; D012987:Soil / Q000469:parasitology*; D012988:Soil Microbiology
chemical_list: D000871:Anthelmintics; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D060766:Drinking Water; D012987:Soil