Natural burials to improve soil?
I had the pleasure of talking to Dr Philip Barton to get an understanding of how natural burials are beneficial to improving the health of the soil and plant life.
Question:
Why/how are human bodies beneficial to the soil?
Dead animals decompose in the environment all around us. We often don’t see it because it happens so fast and often it occurs away from people in our parks and reserves. There are hundreds of species of insects, bacteria, and fungi that help in this process by eating and breaking down the remains. When an animal, or human, is buried in the soil, then decomposition is mostly done by the bacteria and fungi, or various soil invertebrates like earthworms, ants, millipedes, slaters, mites, nematodes to name a few. These organisms help to move the nutrients contained in a dead body out into the soil profile, effectively fertilising the surrounding local area. We call this a resource ‘hotspot’ or a ‘decomposition island’ – an area that is rich in nutrients that creates local changes in the soil and plants. The benefits of these hotspots extend to soil biodiversity and plants that will use the nutrients.
When animals decompose, the various tissues broken down into smaller and smaller molecules which leak into the soil and then absorbed by nearby plants. Nitrogen is particularly important for plants, and research in Australia and the USA has shown that nitrogen levels in soil and plants increase dramatically near decomposing remains, and this occurs over a period of many weeks. Changes in ground-layer plants have also been observed that show a response to the elevated soil nitrogen.
Dr Philip Barton
Associate Professor, Zoology
School of Life & Env Sciences | Faculty of Sci Eng & Built Env
Deakin University
Geelong, Victoria, Australia
