{"id":10695,"date":"2026-07-16T13:07:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T11:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/game-csic.com\/?p=10695"},"modified":"2026-07-16T13:25:37","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T11:25:37","slug":"la-restauracion-del-carbono-azul-llega-a-los-lindau-nobel-laureate-meetings-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/game-csic.com\/en\/la-restauracion-del-carbono-azul-llega-a-los-lindau-nobel-laureate-meetings-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists discover an \"invisible tool\" that lasts 14,000 years and reveals the memory of our soils' health"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\"><div class=\"vc_row wpb_row vc_row-fluid\"><div class=\"wpb_column vc_column_container vc_col-sm-12\"><div class=\"vc_column-inner\"><div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n\t<div class=\"wpb_text_column wpb_content_element\" >\n\t\t<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"article-header__content\">\n<div class=\"article-header__excerpt\">\n<p><span class=\"wpex-text-2xl\">An international team of researchers has identified a soil protein capable of acting as a <strong>\"biological clock\"<\/strong> to restore the health of ecosystems over millennia. The study, published in the scientific journal <em>Chain<\/em>, demonstrates that the <strong>soil protein related to glomalin (GRSP)<\/strong> it is preserved in soils for <strong>at least 14,000 years<\/strong>offering a new economical and effective tool to reconstruct the impact of climate and humans on the landscape.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"vc_row wpb_row vc_row-fluid\"><div class=\"wpb_column vc_column_container vc_col-sm-12\"><div class=\"vc_column-inner\"><div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n\t<div class=\"wpb_text_column wpb_content_element\" >\n\t\t<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n\t\t\t<p><strong>An unprecedented discovery in Galicia<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The research focused on Monte Paradela (Pontevedra), an area rich in rock art where scientists analysed a soil profile over two metres deep. The results reveal that glomalin (a protein produced by fungi living in symbiosis with plant roots) is a direct indicator of habitat health.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Main findings<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Millennial Memory<\/strong>The study confirms, for the first time, that this protein remains intact in terrestrial soils since the end of the last Ice Age (14,000 years ago), resisting natural degradation.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The Forest as a Symbol of Health<\/strong>The highest levels of glomalin coincide with periods of mature oak and birch forests, indicating stable ecosystems and high-quality soils.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The Human Footprint<\/strong>The research detected drastic declines in the protein about 3,000 years ago, linked to deforestation, the use of fires, and grazing, which degraded soil health long before the industrial era.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Scientific Efficiency<\/strong>Analyzing this protein is faster and more cost-effective than traditional methods such as pollen analysis, allowing for a direct assessment of the vital functions of the soil.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>A new tool for the future<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\n\"While other indicators tell us which plants grew in the past, glomalin tells us how healthy that system was,\" explains Dr Oscar Serrano.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This advancement allows not only understanding the past but also informing the management and restoration of current soils in the face of climate change.<\/p>\n<p>The research team, led by Edith Cowan University (Australia) and the Blanes Centre for Advanced Studies, with the participation of Spanish institutions such as the CSIC and the Complutense University of Madrid, highlights that this method could now be applied in other environments such as peatlands and lake sediments worldwide.<\/p>\n<p>Werner, A., L\u00f3pez-Merino, L., Kaal, J., Ferro-V\u00e1zquez, C., &amp; Serrano, O. (2026). Glomalin-related soil protein in colluvial soils as a proxy for reconstructing millennial changes in landscape and soil health.\u00a0<i>CHAIN<\/i>,\u00a0<i>273<\/i>, 110392. <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.catena.2026.110392\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.catena.2026.110392\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An international team of researchers has identified a soil protein capable of acting as a \"biological clock\" to reconstruct the health of ecosystems over millennia. The study, published in the scientific journal Catena, demonstrates that the soil protein related to glomalin (GRSP) is preserved in soils for at least 14,000 years,\u2026","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":10696,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"post_series":[],"class_list":["post-10695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-noticias","entry","has-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/game-csic.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/game-csic.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/game-csic.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/game-csic.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/game-csic.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10695"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/game-csic.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10695\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10699,"href":"https:\/\/game-csic.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10695\/revisions\/10699"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/game-csic.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/game-csic.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/game-csic.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/game-csic.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10695"},{"taxonomy":"post_series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/game-csic.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_series?post=10695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}