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Work Package 2. Elucidate how carbon-derived energy drives biogeochemical cycles and food webs in the soil-plant system

 

PI: Phil Murray

 

 

 

Key hypothesis: Carbon and other energy inputs to soils impact on the soil communities and the functions they perform and may be used to develop a unifying systems-based approach to understanding soil resilience.

Key targets:

  • To determine the relationships between particle size of livestock-derived C, substrate composition and mineralization rates of N and C.
  • To have demonstrated any effects of biochar on soil resilience through the response of soil organic matter fractions and microbial community structure using the Highfield Experiment.
  • To better understand the effect of management on nutrient flow through trophic interactions in soils.
  • Improved understanding of the mechanisms of C movement from plants to soils.

This WP has three key components:

  1. Energy as a unifying concept for soil systems biology.
  2. The composition and transfer of soil C.
  3. The role of livestock-derived C in soil function and process.

 

 

 

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