Together, they studied the species of bacteria found in soils at two local schools, Merchants Academy and Brunel Academy, the Avon riverbank, Queens Square, Fenswood Farm and Ashton Court Deer Park. 

The team found that human impacted soils still showed a large diversity between sites in terms of the microbes present and the study highlighted that other factors like the geochemical make-up of the soil and environmental factors also play a key role. 

Lead author, Dr Matt Tarnowski explained: “One reason researchers are doing this is that many important biotechnologies like novel antibiotics are found in the soil. Building on this interest our multidisciplinary team from the University of Bristol investigated what the soils of Bristol contained in collaboration with local people to try and understand how discoveries in soils might be used in a fair and equitable way. The project started by working with local school children, who helped with the science.” 

Read the full University of Bristol news item

‘Soil as a transdisciplinary research catalyst: from bioprospecting to biorespecting’ by Matthew J. Tarnowski, Gilda Varliero, Jim Scown, Emily Phelps and Thomas E. Gorochowski in Royal Society Open Science.