Landmark Issue 19 2021 SINGLE PAGES

28 LANDMARK TEACHING & LEARNING Dr Felicity Crotty joined the RAU in 2018 as a Lecturer in Soil Science and Ecology. She has been researching soil biology and soil health for the last twelve years focusing on understanding the linkage between sustainable agriculture and soil health. Utilising her expertise within soil biology (earthworms, springtails, mites and nematodes), and how agriculture has an impact on this in relation to soil quality, physics and chemistry, within both the livestock and arable sectors. Earthworms are often used as the emblem of soil health, having a large effect on the physical soil environment – through burrowing, mixing the soil, increasing the amount of water infiltration and aeration within the soil profile. Deep burrowing earthworm species leave “casts” on the soil surface (earthworm poo), this is soil and organic matter that has been processed by the earthworm changing its chemical composition, redistributing nutrients from depth to the soil surface. The UK Government have included the aim of “improving soil health” in their 25 Year Environment Plan. Thus if earthworm numbers were to increase, the health of the soil is likely to as well - highlighting the national importance of earthworm activity. Understanding how agricultural management affects earthworms and how they differ spatially within a field and across farms is key to enhancing earthworm population and consequently soil health. One of the projects currently being investigated is the development of image recognition algorithms (AI and computer learning) to estimate earthworm activity within agricultural soils. Traditionally earthworm population monitoring is time-consuming and inaccurate. Citizen science monitoring programs have been trialled to reduce costs, but have not been extended across the country. Monitoring the number of earthworm casts on the soil surface as an indicator or the earthworm population below ground will increase our understanding of soil health, allowing large areas to be monitored. This research has also the potential to be extended as a farmer environmental monitoring tool, through the development of a smartphone app. Worm watch Dr Felicity Crotty Lecturer in Soil Science and Ecology