High schoolers join scholars to uncover soil biodiversity in Hong Kong

Soil and its macrofauna are an integral part of many ecosystems and play important roles in decomposition and nutrient recycling. However, soil biodiversity remains under-researched worldwide. To fill this gap and show the diversity of Hong Kong’s bottom fauna, a team of scientists from the Chinese University of Hong Kong initiated a citizen science project involving universities, non-governmental organizations, and secondary school students and teachers.

“Citizen involvement in the process of new knowledge generation is important to advance understanding of biodiversity. Educating younger generation citizens to learn about biodiversity is paramount and critical to conservation engagement,” the researchers say in their published study in the open-hand Journal of Biodiversity Data.

In collaboration with university academics, taxonomists and NGO members, students from 21 schools/institutes were recruited to spend a year collecting soil animals near their campuses and recording their observations.

Between October 2019 and October 2020, they monitored and sampled species at 21 urban and semi-natural habitat sites in Hong Kong, collecting a total of 3,588 individual samples. Their efforts yielded 150 species of soil macrofauna identified as arthropods (including insects, spiders, centipedes and millipedes), worms and snails.

The students found centipedes most often (23 out of 150 species). They even helped identify two centipede species that are new to Hong Kong’s fauna – Monographis queenslandica and Alloproctoides remyi. The former is usually found in Australia – the researchers suspect it was introduced to the area from Queensland or vice versa many decades ago – and the latter has been observed in Réunion and Mauritius.

Centipedes like these two species can accelerate waste decomposition and regulate soil carbon and phosphorus cycling, while earthworms can alter soil structure and regulate water and organic matter cycling.

“Prior to the start of this project, understanding of soil biodiversity in Hong Kong, including understanding of the millipede species it contains, was poor,” the researchers write in their article. Now they believe the identified macrofauna species and their 646 DNA barcodes have provided a solid basis for further research into soil biodiversity in the region.

Your project also serves another purpose. Unlike most conventional scientific studies, which are usually only conducted by government, non-governmental organizations or academics at universities, this study took a citizen science approach by creating a large community dedicated to biodiversity. In doing so, it helped educate the public and raise awareness of the use of basic scientific techniques to understand local biodiversity.

And it may have inspired a new generation of future scientists: some students started centipede cultures in their own schools, and one school used the centipede breeding model to enter a science and technology competition.

This study is proof that local institutes and colleges can partner with research teams at universities and do scientific work, the study authors believe. It “has raised public awareness and potentially opens up opportunities for the general public to engage in scientific research in the future.”