Linkages to New Research The Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment, SCOPE, convened a workshop sponsored by The Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources Management and Fisheries of The Netherlands and anonymous donors. The SCOPE Committee on Soil and Sediment Biodiversity and Eco system Functioning, chaired by Diana Wall Freckman, Colorado State Uni versity, USA and aided by co-chairs Margaret Palmer, University of Maryland, USA (Freshwater Sedi ments), Lijbert Brussaard, Agricul tural University, The Netherlands (Soils), and T. Henry Blackburn, Aarhus University, Denmark (Marine Sediments), met for the first work shop in late April 1997 in Wageningen, Holland. The 40 experts from 15 countries, representing tax onomists, ecologists, and biogeo chemists working in the domains of soils, freshwater sediments, and ma rine sediments, spent almost a week summarizing the status of knowledge on biodiversity in relation to func tioning in "their" ecosystems, and identifying similarities in taxa and functions and gaps in knowledge pre venting a synthesis across these do mains. SCOPE was the first integra tive workshop bringing together sci entists from these three domains and the first to emphasize the functional significance of specific organisms and taxa to ecosystem processes and the ecosystem services they represent.