Diversification of cropping systems has the potential to increase biodiversity and support human health. The BMBF-funded DCropS4OneHealth project pursues a One Health approach and aims to test the following hypotheses along a causal chain in the area of agrobiodiversity:
(i) Diversification in cropping systems increases farm biodiversity in terms of soil and plant microbiome, vegetation and invertebrate fauna
(ii) The higher diversity of cultivated crops, soil and plant microbiome, vegetation and invertebrate fauna positively affects health-relevant characteristics of the field produce in terms of the produce microbiome and health-promoting plant secondary metabolites
(iii) These improved characteristics foster human health. Thus, relations between biodiversity and human health are mediated and can be analysed via the interlinked microbiomes and the plant secondary metabolites.
The consortium is led by Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy and brings together scientists from different disciplines and practitioners. A large-scale on-farm experiment will be established on a commercial farm to test the hypotheses. For the analyses, the team will use OMICS technologies, record plants and invertebrates, use methods from chemo- and bioinformatics and apply artificial intelligence. The goal is to develop recommendations for favourable diversification measures and for unlocking the benefits for biodiversity and human health, and to identify options for successful implementation.
The Climate Change and Health working group at PIK will be responsible for the work package “Diet and Human Health”. The project team includes Dr. Amanda Wendt, Dr. Anna Müller-Hauser, and Shafinaz Sobhan. They collaborate closely with researchers at EMBL to investigate how diversification affects microbiota composition and intestinal health.
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