Science
Swiss citizens bury cotton underpants to map national soil health
A citizen science project in Switzerland utilizes decomposing organic cotton to analyze how different land uses affect soil quality.
The short version
- One thousand volunteers in Switzerland buried organic cotton underpants for two months to assess soil decomposition rates.
- The citizen science project aimed to map out soil health, which is declining globally and is vital for food security and agriculture.
- A paper published in Plants People Planet revealed that soil management and land use significantly impact soil life and biological diversity.
Key facts
- One thousand Swiss citizens participated in a citizen science project by burying organic cotton underpants for a two-month period.[Ars Technica]
- The study, published in the journal Plants People Planet, aimed to create a map of soil health across Switzerland.[Ars Technica]
- The experiment used the decomposition rate of complex organic matter—specifically the cotton underpants—as a key indicator of soil health.[Ars Technica]
- Co-author Marcel van der Heijden, an agroecologist at the University of Zurich, stated that the findings demonstrate how soil management significantly affects soil life and quality.[Ars Technica]