Soil microbiology in a changing climate
The changing climate is expected to impact temperature and precipitation, both of which are key determinants of soil microbial activity. More intense and less frequent precipitation events and higher temperatures can alter the rate of degradation of organic matter in forest soils. Drier summers will lead to more irrigation which could potentially increase the transport of nutrients (e.g., nitrate) from fertilizer and of pesticides to aquifers. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from soil could be impacted by greater fluctuations in soil moisture content.
Understanding of the microbial dynamics of N2O and CH4 emissions from soils under changing climate forcing is important to devise strategies to reduce GHG emissions and to prevent groundwater contamination.
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Typical questions are: How does the change in irrigation regime (expected in the future) impact the transport of nitrate through the soil into the aquifer? How will an increase in temperature and the change in precipitation regime (more intense and less frequent rain events) impact GHG emissions?
In this work, we use lysimeters and field experiments to investigate soil microbial processes under varying temperature and precipitation conditions and their impact on GHG emissions and contaminant transport.
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People: Simiao Wang (Ph.D. student, then post-doc); Aida El Sangedy (M.S. student); NN (PhD student)
Collaboration: Andrea Rinaldo (EPFL), Christophe Randin (UNIL)
Funding: SNSF, NCCR Microbiomes