Improving access to subsoil properties and knowledge

Topic description

Nowadays, a significant knowledge gap remains regarding carbon dynamics across soil organic layers, especially the interplay between topsoil and subsoil, and the extent to which soil management practices affect subsoil carbon and related properties. Indeed, the current models used to monitor soils properties dissociate the topsoil functions from subsoil functions, leading to uncertainties of soil properties such as the organic carbon content. The PhD work aims at developing tools and carry out in-situ continuous measurements using sensors created at ARU to improve access to subsoils properties and environmental conditions; develop new indicators based on the analysis of the field samples for measuring short-term C dynamic (labile fraction) of subsoil and link it with agronomic properties (e.g., fluctuations in nutrient availability and environmental interactions) and to understand the top-down and bottom-up processes between the different soil ...