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H2020Individual fellowship2020–2022

EUsoil-C-FLUX · Impact of climate warming on soil exoenzyme kinetic properties and their role in forecasting carbon flux

Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Duration
2020-09-01 → 2022-08-31
EU contribution
€196,708
Participants
1
Scheme
MSCA-IF

Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.

Results in brief

Impact of climate warming on soil exoenzyme kinetic properties and their role in forecasting carbon flux

The majority of the Earth’s terrestrial carbon (C) is stored in the soil as organic carbon, at quantities more than three times the size of the atmospheric carbon pool. Response of this vast reservoir of C to climate change is highly uncertain, and changes may alter multiple soil ecosystem services such as climate regulation, food production and water purification. The overall objective of this Marie Skłodowska Curie Action (MSCA) - EUsoil-C-FLUX has been to understand how soil microorganisms and the exoenzyme they produce respond to climate warming. Tackling the challenge of evaluating the contribution of exoenzymes kinetic properties to soil respiration (Rsoil) and their potential adaptation to warming temperature is an utmost priority if we intend to better predict future shifts in the C cycle. The latter is a prerequisite to fulfilling a key priority of the European Union in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. >The main objectives of this project have been to (i) determine and better understand the thermal adaptation of soil exoenzyme kinetic to their respective climate along altitudinal gradients in the Alps; (ii) to evaluate the ability of soil microbial community to acclimate to warmer climate condition by setting up a controlled warming experiment in a unique world-leading research facility (the European Ecotron of Montpellier); (iii) use cutting edge and interdisciplinary technologies (isotope labelling, high throughput DNA sequencing) to provide a detailed mechanistic understanding of soil respiration and microbial metabolism responses to warming. In parallel, (IV) the goal of this EUsoil-C-FLUX MSCA Individual Fellowship has been to enhance the Fellow (JP) career prospects through the training received on soil flux measurements, his supervisory role (master student) and his project leader role.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

The majority of the Earth’s terrestrial carbon (C) is stored in the soil as organic carbon, at quantities more than three times the size of the atmospheric carbon pool. Response of this vast reservoir of C to climate change is highly uncertain and changes may alter multiple soil ecosystem services such as climate regulation, food production and water purification. Soil microorganisms drive the decomposition of soil organic C and determine C losses from soils to the atmosphere through soil respiration (Rsoil). To date, no consensus has been reached on the direction or magnitude of Rsoil responses to climate change with contrasting results and conflicting theory making future predictions unreliable. Up to now, research into rising temperature respiratory responses has focussed on substrate depletion mechanisms and metabolic adjustments, with little attention being paid to the importance of change in exoenzyme kinetic properties. Bringing together state of the art measurements from different rarely combined disciplines, this EUsoil-C-FLUX project will focus on soil exoenzyme thermal adaptation to unravel new mechanisms of Rsoil response to climate warming at the European scale. To this end, this project proposes to (i) determine the local adaptation of soil exoenzyme kinetic properties across Europe, from Greece to Iceland in three major habitats (grassland, forest and peatland); (ii) impose a controlled warming experient on these soils in a unique world leading research facility (the European Ecotron of Montpellier); (iii) use cutting edge and interdisciplineray technology (isotope labelling, high throughput DNA sequencing, radio carbon dating) to provide a detailed mechanistic understanding of Rsoil responses to warming; and finally (iv) incorporate the new findings into the latest mechanistic C models to better predict Rsoil response to climate change, a prerequisite to fulfill a key priority of the European Union in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

  • CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS · ParisCoordinatorFrance

Links

Data: CORDIS, © European Union