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This paper explores ways in which scholarly skill and expertise might be embodied in tools and sustainable practices that enable communities to create and manage their own digital archives. We focus particularly on tools and practices related to the recording and annotation of digitised materials. The paper is based on co-production practice in two very different kinds of community. Although the communities are different we find that tools designed specifically for one are valuable for others, thus offering the promise of general tools to support community-centred digitisation and potentially also traditional archival practice.

The centenaries of former chapters of the British Music Society (BMS), established in 1918, have prompted their governing bodies to take stock of their histories and build on the cataloguing, documentation and preservation of their archival collections. The InterMusE project aims to support this shared instinct to archive by capturing and, crucially, linking different forms of data regarding the musical events provided by three of these local concert-giving organisations, beginning with the digitisation of their collections and with a view to producing a dynamic, open-access digital archive. This paper outlines our approach to establishing a foundation for developing a new kind of digital archive for musicology that is both valuable for researchers, fulfils the needs of the societies and their communities, and sheds light on community music-making on a national and, ultimately, international scale. By carrying out a series of preliminary scoping exercises, including informal interviews and archival-collection assessments, we can compare current archiving and preservation activities across the societies. These conversations bring emerging themes, issues and challenges into focus, raising pertinent questions that will inform our development of transformative tools and techniques for community digitisation projects.

Abstract. Forest soils are fundamental in regulating the global carbon (C) cycle; their capacity to accumulate large stores of C means they are vital in mitigating the effects of climate change. Understanding the processes that regulate forest soil organic C (SOC) dynamics and stabilisation is important to maximise the capacity and longevity of C sequestration. Compared to surface soil layers, little is known about the SOC dynamics in subsoil layers, sensu those below 30 cm depth. This knowledge gap creates large uncertainties when estimating the global distribution and vulnerability of SOC reserves to climate change. This study aimed to dive deep into the subsoils of Puruki Experimental Forest (New Zealand) and characterise the incremental changes in SOC dynamics and the soil microbiome down to 1 metre soil depth. ITS and 16S rRNA sequencing and quantitative real-time PCR were used to measure changes in soil microbial diversity, composition, and abundance. Stable (δ13C) and radioactive (14C) C analyses were performed to assess depth-driven changes in SOC stability and age. We conservatively estimate more than 35 % of total C stocks are present in subsoil layers below 30 cm. Although C age steadily increased with depth, reaching a mean radiocarbon age of 1571 yBP (years before present) in the deepest soil layers, the stability of SOC varied between different subsoil depth increments. Declines in soil carbon were associated with lower microbial diversity, abundance, and significant shifts in community membership. These research findings highlight the importance of quantifying subsoil C stocks for accurate systems-level global and local C budgets and modeling. Furthermore, performing a broad range of analytical measures (i.e. 13C & 14C natural abundance, and microbiome analysis) is vital to assess the vulnerability of subsoil C to climate change.

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The assembly and function of the phyllosphere microbiome is important to the overall fitness of plants and, thereby, the ecosystems they inhabit. Presently, model systems for tree phyllosphere microbiome studies are lacking, yet forests resilient to pests, diseases, and climate change are important to support a myriad of ecosystem services impacting from local to global levels. In this study, we extend the development of model microbiome systems for trees species, particularly coniferous gymnosperms, by undertaking a structured approach assessing the phyllosphere microbiome of Pinus radiata. Canopy sampling height was the single most important factor influencing both alpha- and beta-diversity of bacterial and fungal communities (p < 0.005). Bacterial and fungal phyllosphere microbiome richness was lowest in samples from the top of the canopy, subsequently increasing in the middle and then bottom canopy samples. These differences maybe driven by either by (1) exchange of microbiomes with the forest floor and soil with the lower foliage, (2) strong ecological filtering in the upper canopy via environmental exposure (e.g., UV), (3) canopy density, (4) or combinations of factors. Most taxa present in the top canopy were also present lower in tree; as such, sampling strategies focussing on lower canopy sampling should provide good overall phyllosphere microbiome coverage for the tree. The dominant phyllosphere bacteria were Alpha-proteobacteria (Rhizobiales and Sphingomonas) along with Acidobacteria Gp1. However, the P. radiata phyllosphere microbiome samples were fungal dominated. From the top canopy samples, Arthoniomycetes and Dothideomycetes were highly represented, with abundances of Arthoniomycetes then reducing in lower canopy samples whilst abundances of Ascomycota increased. The most abundant fungal taxa were Phaeococcomyces (14.4% of total reads) and Phaeotheca spp. (10.38%). A second-order effect of canopy sampling direction was evident in bacterial community composition (p = 0.01); these directional influences were not evident for fungal communities. However, sterilisation of needles did impact fungal community composition (p = 0.025), indicating potential for community differences in the endosphere versus leaf surface compartments. Needle age was only important in relation to bacterial communities, but was canopy height dependant (interaction p = 0.008). By building an understanding of the primary and secondary factors related to intra-canopy phyllosphere microbiome variation, we provide a sampling framework to either explicitly minimise or capture variation in needle collection to enable ongoing ecological studies targeted at inter-canopy or other experimental levels.