In our current research we focus on 3 themes:
Fertile soils.
This theme is about functioning and management of the soil biota in food production systems. This theme was recently boosted by the DGIS-funded COS-SIS program (a follow-up to the successful COS-1 INREF program) and the INREF-funded Terra Preta (Amazonian dark earths) program.
Soil biodiversity.
This theme is about conservation and utilization of biodiversity in agricultural landscapes. This theme was recently boosted by a grant from the ministries of Agriculture and Environment to found the International Project Office of the agroBIODIVERSITY network of DIVERSITAS, the International Organization for Biodiversity Science.
Soils in a changing climate.
This theme is about the effects of the soil biota on the greenhouse gas balance of the soil and on maintaining soil quality. The theme results from a prestigious personal VIDI grant from NWO, the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, awarded to Dr. Jan-Willem van Groenigen.
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Here, we briefly describe the themes:
Fertile soils.
The need to sustainably feed the world has come again high on the political and science agendas. Agriculture has to steer between the Scylla of soils with limited nutrient availability and the Charybdis of excess nutrient addition. In both cases increased efficiency with which nutrients are acquired and utilized by plants is of prime importance. To achieve this, a better understanding of the role of the soil biota (including roots!) in supplying the plant with nutrients is urgently needed. Since nutrients also interact with the solid soil matrix, we have chosen soil biological – soil chemical interactions as an important focus in our work, allowing for a unique position in that area.
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Given these challenges, we focus on:
1) Soil biological activity, as related to soil organic matter, soil structure, element & water cycles and nutrient & water use efficiency
2) Role of plant roots and mycorrhizal associations in (micro)nutrient speciation, interactions, transport and uptake.
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Soil biodiversity.
While species extinctions continue to be a matter of extreme concern, changes in biodiversity in the world’s agricultural landscapes have largely escaped attention. Implicitly, the world community has traded off biodiversity in these landscapes against the conservation of threatened endemics in protected areas. Alternatively, biodiversity in agricultural landscapes may be considered an asset for both agricultural production and the conservation and use of non-commodity species. Biodiversity affects the ecosystem services that have been labeled in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment as provisioning (production of food, feed, fibers and fuels), supporting (e.g., soil structure formation) and regulating (e.g., water infiltration and retention, nutrient cycling). We investigate the wider role of biodiversity in view of the risks associated with the loss of such services, like supporting water supplies and resilience against stress and disturbances. Such services are to a large extent mediated by the soil biota.
Given these challenges, we focus on:
- Soil biological interactions and spatial relationships in agricultural landscapes
- Biological indicators of soil quality
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Soils in a changing climate.
Climate change presents unique challenges to soil science. Soils are essential for the balance of all three major greenhouse gases. More carbon is stored in soil than in the combined pools of atmospheric carbon dioxide, plants and animals. Soils are an important methane source, and by far the largest nitrous oxide source. Emissions of these gases are largely controlled by the soil biota (including roots). Our first challenge is therefore to understand these biotic processes and the many trade-offs and feedbacks that control them.
Global change affects climate conditions and results in profound land use changes (e.g. increased biofuel production). This might lead to soil degradation due to a decline in biotic and abiotic soil parameters. Our second challenge is therefore to secure soil quality under changing and increasing claims on global soil resources.
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