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Soil organisms and their performance in an agroecosystem influenced by elevated atmospheric CO2 and different N-fertilisation
Project
Project code: vTI-BD-08-35
Contract period: 01.05.2002
- 31.12.2005
Purpose of research: Applied research
Worldwide increasing CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere form the background for a field experiment in an agroecosystem. Biodiversity and performance of soil organisms has been studied under the conditions of elevated atmospheric CO2 by fumigating the standing crop. The carbon of the CO2 passes through the plants via stomatical uptake into the soil as root exudates or is deposited as dead roots and residues. The distribution of the additional carbon within the food chain can be analysed with stable isotopic techniques because the fumigated CO2 is depleted with 13C. Conclusions can be drawn on the carbon dynamic under the conditions of climate change by comparison these isotope results with those detected in other compartments of the agroecosystem. Additionally, within this field experiment 2 different levels of N-fertilisation are applied (a locally conventional and a second level reduced to 50 % N-application). The investigations are focused on enchytraeids, collembolans and nematodes because they are important members of the food web controlling turnover processes of organic matter evidently
Section overview
Subjects
- Agroecology
- Climate Change
