Due to the recent advances in sequencing, it has now become possible for non-protistologists to target the diversity of protists in soil (ecological) studies. However, data interpretation usually remains, at best, at a coarse level, or worse, is hindered by mis-interpretation due to erroneous non-critical assignations from existing databases. Joint initiatives of ecologists and protistol-ogists are essential. This will strongly benefit both fields, enlarging the scientific outcome of respective studies and furthering our understanding of belowground diversity, community structure and functioning — not only of the protist fraction.

The goal of the Soil Protist Initiative is to bring the largely neglected group of protists into the focus of a wider scientific audience, especially outside the field of “Protistology”, i.e. soil biology and terrestrial ecology.

• Protists are rarely includedin soil biodiversity althoughthey:

» represent by far the mostdiverse group of soil eukaryotes with high abundances

» play key roles in nutrient cycling e.g. by controlling other microbes

» promote plant growth

• Soil protist diversity,community structure andecological functioningremains largely unknown

SOIL PROTISTSImportant part of the soil biodiversity

- now included in the GSBI -

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