Dr Frank Ashwood talks to us about his new book The World Beneath Our Feet – The Hidden Life of Soil and Why It Matters to Us All. He guides us through a safari of life in the soil, touching upon species of mite that have been exclusively female for hundreds of millions of years, how an earthworm experiences its world, and how you don’t need to travel to the ends of the earth to discover new species. All you need to do is look down.
Bio:
Dr Frank Ashwood is a soil ecologist and macrophotographer, specialising in soil invertebrates. He is a Lecturer of Ecology and Entomology at Lincoln University in New Zealand, and received his PhD from University of Lancashire in 2016. Frank has previously worked as a scientist for Forest Research, part of the British Government’s Forestry Commission. He is Associate Editor of the New Zealand Journal of Zoology and member of the Royal Society of Biology. Frank has appeared on the BBC Earth Podcast, BBC Breakfast, ABC Landline, and his soil animal photography has been featured in the Guardian and the New York Times, and has been exhibited internationally.
Plant Kingdom is hosted and produced by Catherine Polcz with music by Carl Didur.