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14C content of specific organic compounds in subsoils

Das Projekt "14C content of specific organic compounds in subsoils" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität zu Köln, Institut für Geologie und Mineralogie durchgeführt. Organic matter (OM) composition and dynamic in subsoils is thought to be significantly different from those in surface soils. This has been suggested by increasing apparent 14C ages of bulk soil OM with depth suggesting that the amount of fresh, more easily degradable components is declining. Compositional changes have been inferred from declining ä13C values and C/N ratios indicative for stronger OM transformation. Beside these bulk OM data more specific results on OM composition and preservation mechanisms are very limited but modelling studies and results from incubation experiments suggest the presence and mineralization of younger, 'reactive carbon pool in subsoils. Less refractory OM components may be protected against degradation by interaction with soil mineral particles and within aggregates as suggested by the very limited number of more specific OM analysis e.g., identification of organic compound in soil fractions. The objective of this project is to characterize the composition, transformation, stabilization and bioavailability of OM in subsurface horizons on the molecular level: 1) major sources and compositional changes with depth will be identified by analysis of different lipid compound classes in surface and subsoil horizons, 2) the origin and stabilization of 'reactive OM will be revealed by lipid distributions and 14C values of soil fractions and of selected plant-specific lipids, and 3) organic substrates metabolized by microbial communities in subsoils are identified by distributional and 14C analysis of microbial membrane lipids. Besides detailed analyses of three soil profiles at the subsoil observatory site (Grinderwald), information on regional variability will be gained from analyses of soil profiles at sites with different parent material.

Forschergruppe (FOR) 1806: The Forgotten Part of Carbon Cycling: Organic Matter Storage and Turnover in Subsoils (SUBSOM)

Das Projekt "Forschergruppe (FOR) 1806: The Forgotten Part of Carbon Cycling: Organic Matter Storage and Turnover in Subsoils (SUBSOM)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Bochum, Geographisches Institut, Arbeitsgruppe Bodenkunde und Bodenökologie durchgeführt. We are currently facing the urgent need to improve our understanding of carbon cycling in subsoils, because the organic carbon pool below 30 cm depth is considerably larger than that in the topsoil and a substantial part of the subsoil C pool appears to be much less recalcitrant than expected over the last decades. Therefore, small changes in environmental conditions could change not only carbon cycling in topsoils, but also in subsoils. While organic matter stabilization mechanisms and factors controlling its turnover are well understood in topsoils, the underlying mechanisms are not valid in subsoils due to depth dependent differences regarding (1) amounts and composition of C-pools and C-inputs, (2) aeration, moisture and temperature regimes, (3) relevance of specific soil organic carbon (SOC) stabilisation mechanisms and (4) spatial heterogeneity of physico-chemical and biological parameters. Due to very low C concentrations and high spatio-temporal variability of properties and processes, the investigation of subsoil phenomena and processes poses major methodological, instrumental and analytical challenges. This project will face these challenges with a transdisciplinary team of soil scientists applying innovative approaches and considering the magnitude, chemical and isotopic composition and 14C-content of all relevant C-flux components and C-fractions. Taking also the spatial and temporal variability into account, will allow us to understand the four-dimensional changes of C-cycling in this environment. The nine closely interlinked subprojects coordinated by the central project will combine field C-flux measurements with detailed analyses of subsoil properties and in-situ experiments at a central field site on a sandy soil near Hannover. The field measurements are supplemented by laboratory studies for the determination of factors controlling C stabilization and C turnover. Ultimately, the results generated by the subprojects and the data synthesized in the coordinating project will greatly enhance our knowledge and conceptual understanding of the processes and controlling factors of subsoil carbon turnover as a prerequisite for numerical modelling of C-dynamics in subsoils.

The effect of elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration on gross nitrogen dynamics, plant N-uptake and microbial community dynamics in a permanent grassland

Das Projekt "The effect of elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration on gross nitrogen dynamics, plant N-uptake and microbial community dynamics in a permanent grassland" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Gießen, Institut für Pflanzenökologie (Botanik II) durchgeführt. To predict ecosystem reactions to elevated atmospheric CO2 (eCO2) it is essential to understandthe interactions between plant carbon input, microbial community composition and activity and associated nutrient dynamics. Long-term observations (greater than 13 years) within the Giessen Free Air Carbon dioxide Enrichment (Giessen FACE) study on permanent grassland showed next to an enhanced biomass production an unexpected strong positive feedback effect on ecosystem respiration and nitrous oxide (N2O) production. The overall goal of this study is to understand the long-term effects of eCO2 and carbon input on microbial community composition and activity as well as the associated nitrogen dynamics, N2O production and plant N uptake in the Giessen FACE study on permanent grassland. A combination of 13CO2 pulse labelling with 15N tracing of 15NH4+ and 15NO3- will be carried out in situ. Different fractions of soil organic matter (recalcitrant, labile SOM) and the various mineral N pools in the soil (NH4+, NO3-, NO2-), gross N transformation rates, pool size dependent N2O and N2 emissions as well as N species dependent plant N uptake rates and the origin of the CO2 respiration will be quantified. Microbial analyses will include exploring changes in the composition of microbial communities involved in the turnover of NH4+, NO3-, N2O and N2, i.e. ammonia oxidizing, denitrifying, and microbial communities involved in dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonia (DNRA). Stable Isotope Probing (SIP) and mRNA based analyses will be employed to comparably evaluate the long-term effects of eCO2 on the structure and abundance of these communities, while transcripts of these genes will be used to target the fractions of the communities which actively contribute to N transformations.

Contribution of ectomycorrhizal fungi to the formation and mobilization of soil organic matter (SOM)

Das Projekt "Contribution of ectomycorrhizal fungi to the formation and mobilization of soil organic matter (SOM)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung GmbH - UFZ, Department Umweltmikrobiologie durchgeführt. In forest ecosystems ectomycorrhizal fungi are responsible for the mobilization of mineral nutrients from soil organic matter (SOM) resulting in a marked increase in productivity of their symbiotic host plants. In return the fungi obtain a significant amount of photosynthetic products from these plants, allowing the formation of an extensive hyphal system. These hyphae constitute a major part of soil biomass and, ultimately, a major source for SOM formation. While plant-fungal nutrient exchange has been analyzed extensively, this proposal is focused on the fungal contribution to SOM formation and on the processes leading to the acquisition of nutrients by the fungi. These two processes will be studied separately and in a quantitative way using isotopic labeling in soil bioreactors. Analysis of the fate of 13C labeled fungal material (Laccaria bicolor) in soil bioreactors will tell how fast and to what extent the various fractions of hyphal biomass are transformed into non-living SOM. As potential molecular or structural markers for SOM formation from fungal hyphae we will analyze characteristic remnants of fungal hyphae in SOM using scanning electron microscopy, DNAfragments using a PCR approach for the fungal rRNA internal transcribed spacerregions and biochemical markers like fatty acids and ergosterol. The impact of ectomycorrhizal mycelia supported by Pinus sylvestris plantlets on 13C- and 15N-labeled SOM and on microbial biomass will be analyzed in separate soil bioreactor experiments.

Variation of the fresh water in the western Nordic Seas

Das Projekt "Variation of the fresh water in the western Nordic Seas" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung durchgeführt. The goal of this project is to capture and analyse fluctuations of the fresh water in the western Nordic Seas and to understand the related processes. The East Greenland Current in the Nordic Seas constitutes an important conduit for fresh water exiting the Arctic Ocean towards the North Atlantic. The Arctic Ocean receives huge amounts of fresh water by continental runoff and by import from the Pacific Ocean. Within the Arctic Ocean fresh water is concentrated at the surface through sea ice formation. The East Greenland Current carries this fresh water in variable fractions as sea ice and in liquid form; part of it enters the central Nordic Seas, via branching of the current and through eddies. It controls the intensity of deep water formation and dilutes the water masses which result from convection. The last decades showed significant changes of the fresh water yield and distribution in the Nordic Seas and such anomalies were found to circulate through the North Atlantic. In this project the fresh water inventory, its spatial distribution and its pathways between the East Greenland Current and the interior Greenland and Icelandic seas shall be captured by autonomous glider missions. The new measurements and existing data will, in combination with the modeling work of the research group, serve as basis for understanding the causes of the fresh water variability and their consequences for the North Atlantic circulation and deep water formation.

Effects of water content, input of roots and dissolved organic matter and spatial inaccessibility on C turnover & determination of the spatial variability of subsoil properties

Das Projekt "Effects of water content, input of roots and dissolved organic matter and spatial inaccessibility on C turnover & determination of the spatial variability of subsoil properties" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Kassel, Lehr- und Forschungsgebiet Umwelt- und Lebensmittelwissenschaften, Fachgebiet Umweltchemie durchgeführt. It is well established that reduced supply of fresh organic matter, interactions of organic matter with mineral phases and spatial inaccessibility affect C stocks in subsoils. However, quantitative information required for a better understanding of the contribution of each of the different processes to C sequestration in subsoils and for improvements of subsoil C models is scarce. The same is true for the main controlling factors of the decomposition rates of soil organic matter in subsoils. Moreover, information on spatial variabilities of different properties in the subsoil is rare. The few studies available which couple near and middle infrared spectroscopy (NIRS/MIRS) with geostatistical approaches indicate a potential for the creation of spatial maps which may show hot spots with increased biological activities in the soil profile and their effects on the distribution of C contents. Objectives are (i) to determine the mean residence time of subsoil C in different fractions by applying fractionation procedures in combination with 14C measurements; (ii) to study the effects of water content, input of 13C-labelled roots and dissolved organic matter and spatial inaccessibility on C turnover in an automatic microcosm system; (iii) to determine general soil properties and soil biological and chemical characteristics using NIRS and MIRS, and (iv) to extrapolate the measured and estimated soil properties to the vertical profiles by using different spatial interpolation techniques. For the NIRS/MIRS applications, sample pretreatment (air-dried vs. freeze-dried samples) and calibration procedures (a modified partial least square (MPLS) approach vs. a genetic algorithm coupled with MPLS or PLS) will be optimized. We hypothesize that the combined application of chemical fractionation in combination with 14C measurements and the results of the incubation experiments will give the pool sizes of passive, intermediate, labile and very labile C and N and the mean residence times of labile and very labile C and N. These results will make it possible to initialize the new quantitative model to be developed by subproject PC. Additionally, we hypothesize that the sample pretreatment 'freeze-drying' will be more useful for the estimation of soil biological characteristics than air-drying. The GA-MPLS and GA-PLS approaches are expected to give better estimates of the soil characteristics than the MPLS and PLS approaches. The spatial maps for the different subsoil characteristics in combination with the spatial maps of temperature and water contents will presumably enable us to explain the spatial heterogeneity of C contents.

In-situ Messungen von eiskeimbildenden Partikeln (INP) und quantitative Bestimmung von biologischen INP

Das Projekt "In-situ Messungen von eiskeimbildenden Partikeln (INP) und quantitative Bestimmung von biologischen INP" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main, Institut für Atmosphäre und Umwelt durchgeführt. Die Bildung der Eis Phase in der Troposphäre stellt einen wichtigen Fokus der aktuellen Atmosphärenforschung dar. Durch heterogene Nukleation entstehen bei Temperaturen oberhalb von -37°C primäre Eiskristalle an sogenannten eiskeimbildenden Partikeln (INP, engl, ice nucleating particles). Die räumliche Verteilung der INP und deren Quellen variieren stark. In der Atmosphäre finden sich INP nur in sehr geringer Anzahlkonzentration, oft weniger als ein Partikel pro Liter, und sie stellen nur eine kleine Untergruppe des gesamten atmosphärischen Aerosols dar. Ziel dieses Antrages ist es die Anzahlkonzentrationen von eiskeimbildenden Partikeln und deren Variabilität in der Atmosphäre zu messen. Außerdem sind Laborstudien geplant, in denen unser Verständnis über die chemischen und biologischen Eigenschaften der Partikel, die die Eisbildung initiieren, verbessert werden soll. Mit dem von unserer Arbeitsgruppe entwickelten Eiskeimzahler FINCH (Fast Ice Nucleaus CHamber) sollen die atmosphärischen Anzahlkonzentrationen von INP bei verschiedenen Gefriertemperaturen und Übersättigungen an mehreren Standorten gemessen werden. Die Kopplung von FINCH mit einem virtuellen Gegenstromimpaktor (CVI, engl, counter-flow virtual impactor, Kooperation mit RP2), die während lNUIT-1 entwickelt und getestet wurde, soll nun weiter charakterisiert und Messungen damit fortgesetzt werden. Bei dieser Methode werden die Eispartikel, die in FINCH gebildet werden, von den unterkühlten Tröpfchen und inaktivierten Partikeln separiert und mit weiteren Messmethoden untersucht. In Kooperation mit RP2 und RP8 planen wir hierbei die Charakterisierung der INP mittels Größen- und Aerosolmassenspektrometer sowie die Sammlung der INP auf Filtern oder Impaktorplatten zur anschließenden Analyse mit einem Elektronenmikroskop (ESEM, engl. DFG fomi 54.011 -04/14 page 3 of 6 Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy). Die Feldmessdaten werden von umfangreichen Laborstudien an den Forschungseinrichtungen AIDA (RP6) und LACIS (RP7) ergänzt. Dort soll das Immersionsgefrieren von verschiedenen Testpartikeln aus biologischem Material (z.B. Zellulose), porösem Material (z.B. Zeolith) und Mineralstaub mit geringem organischem Anteil im Detail untersucht werden. Des Weiteren planen wir Labormessungen, bei denen eine verbesserte Charakterisierung der Messunsicherheiten von FINCH erarbeitet werden soll. Außerdem werden regelmäßige Tests und Kalibrierungen mit FINCH durchgeführt, für die Standardroutinen festgelegt werden sollen. Um die Rolle der INP bei der Wolken- und Niederschlagsbildung sowie bei den Wolkeneigenschaften abzuschätzen, werden die gewonnenen Messergebnisse am Ende als Eingabeparameter für erweiterte Wolkenmodelle (Kooperation mit WP-M) dienen.

Das Energiewende-Szenario 2020 - Ausstieg aus der Atomenergie, Einstieg in Klimaschutz und nachhaltige Entwicklung

Das Projekt "Das Energiewende-Szenario 2020 - Ausstieg aus der Atomenergie, Einstieg in Klimaschutz und nachhaltige Entwicklung" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Öko-Institut. Institut für angewandte Ökologie e.V. durchgeführt.

Plant induced weathering of minerals in the subsoil - release of 'non-exchangeable' potassium from 2:1 layer minerals (TransMinK)

Das Projekt "Plant induced weathering of minerals in the subsoil - release of 'non-exchangeable' potassium from 2:1 layer minerals (TransMinK)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Institut für Agrar- und Ernährungswissenschaften, Professur für Bodenkunde und Bodenschutz durchgeführt. The proposal addresses the potential of subsoil to contribute to K nutrition of crops. More specifically we will address the processes controlling release of K from interlayer of 2:1 clay minerals as this is expected to be the dominant K fraction in the subsoil. While it has been shown in the past that this so called 'non-exchangeable' K can be released due to root activity, there are controversial results concerning the role of soil solution K concentration in the rhizosphere required to trigger the process. Likewise little information is available about the concentration dynamics of other cations (NH4, Ca) in the rhizosphere and their impact on K release and vermiculitization supposed to be associated with this process. Model studies with substrate from the central field trial will be conducted in compartment systems equipped with micro suction cups. The measurement of dynamic changes of soil solution composition with increasing distance from the root surface will be combined with investigations of changes in mineralogy by XRD, TEM and SEM-EDX. Changes of mineralogy as a result of plant induced K release from interlayer will also be studied on bulk soil and rhizosphere samples collected within the central field and the central microcosm experiment and with mineral bags exposed in the field during a cropping cycle. Finally, X-ray CT will be used to access changes in soil texture, i.e. clay distribution around roots and the temporal spread of roots in biopores which is a prerequisite for K uptake from such structures.

Importance of soil organic carbon and mineral particle size fractions for the fate of soil supplied organic chemicals and their microbial transformations

Das Projekt "Importance of soil organic carbon and mineral particle size fractions for the fate of soil supplied organic chemicals and their microbial transformations" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Johann Heinrich von Thünen-Institut Bundesforschungsinstitut für Ländliche Räume, Wald und Fischerei - Institut für Biodiversität durchgeführt. The biogeochemical interface (BGI) in this project is defined as the organo-mineral surface of soil particles colonized by microorganisms. In the preceding project it was demonstrated that the different soil particle size fractions were associated with specifically structured microbial communities, a characteristic amount of soil organic carbon, and a specific capacity for adsorption of the organic chemicals phenol and 2,4-dichlorophenol, respectively. While the diversity of the microbial community was responsive to fertilization-determined additional organic soil carbon in the larger particle size fractions, it was unaffected in clay. Stable isotope probing with 13C-labelled phenol and 2,4-dichlorophenol revealed that the soil organic carbon in the BGIs also affected the diversity of microorganisms involved in the degradation of these chemicals. All these results are yet only based on studying one soil with three organic carbon variants (Bad Lauchstädt) and only two organic compounds. The objective of this 2nd phase project is to apply the innovative technology developed in the 1st phase for studying the BGI processes with soil organic carbon variants from another soil (Ultuna, SPP 1315 site) and with the chiralic anilide Fungicide metalaxyl as an additional compound. This 2nd phase SPP 1315 project will also, in a collaborative effort with two other SPP 1315 partners, investigate (1) the importance of BGIs for the entantio-selective degradation of metalaxyl and (2) the role of soil microorganisms in the formation of bound residues, respectively. Furthermore, the project will utilize stable isotope probing and next-generation DNA sequencing to link the structural and functional diversity of the microbial communities responsible for metabolism of organic chemicals in the different BGIs determined by particle size fractions and soil organic carbon variants.

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