ENAC Seminar Series by Dr A. Vidal
Event details
| Date | 30.10.2020 |
| Hour | 10:15 › 11:00 |
| Speaker | Dr Alix Vidal |
| Location |
Zoom
Online
|
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
10:15 – 11:00 – Dr Alix Vidal
Assistant professor at Technical University of Munich, Germany
Understanding the soil-organisms´ interface to manage soil ecosystem services in a changing world
Soils are at the nexus of the major challenges that humanity is facing. Being a sink and source of carbon, soils can play a key role in mitigation and adaptation to climate change. Besides, soils are the habitat for a myriad of organisms, including plants, soil fauna and microorganisms, whose activity and interactions within soils support most soil-related ecosystem services. Soil and its organisms thus work in consortium to support food, fiber, and bioenergy production to a growing population. However, these regulation, support, and supply services provided by soils are hampered by inadequate management strategies that have led to a degradation of soils, including the loss of soil organic carbon stocks, the decrease of soil fertility and the alteration of soil structure.
This lecture will demonstrate the links between plants, soil fauna, and microorganisms, and their associations with the soil organo-mineral constituents. We will explore how earthworms drive plant residues´ decomposition and build structures that enhance carbon storage in soils. We will unravel how roots, together with their surrounding soil and microorganisms, can represent a significant carbon sink and a lever to improve both soil fertility and crop yield. This talk will also examine various alternatives to maintain or improve the ecosystem services provided by soils in both intensively managed arable lands and remote mountainous grasslands, using adapted fertilization and grazing strategies.
Short bio:
Alix Vidal is a soil biogeochemist, assistant professor at the Technical University of Munich in Freising, Germany, since November 2016. She defended her doctoral project on the role of earthworms on soil organic matter dynamics in September 2016 at the Sorbonne University in Paris, France. Alix Vidal dedicates her research activities in gathering fundamental understanding of soil biogeochemical processes and developing applied strategies for a sustainable management of soils in response to global change challenges. Her researches focus on soil organic matter dynamics at the interface between soil, plants, soil fauna and microorganisms. Her holistic approach, based on both laboratory and field experiments, calls for close collaborations across disciplines (e.g., chemistry, microbiology and plant physiology) and the merging of techniques to bridge spatial scales. For this purpose, she is conducting various projects that associate bulk quantitative information together with fine scale elemental and isotopic information to highlight the role of plant-soil-organisms interactions on soil biogeochemical properties. In parallel to her research activities, Alix Vidal is also teaching to multicultural students from first preparatory cycle to master level in French, English and German. Her teaching activities are mainly focusing on geosciences, soil contaminants and soil remediation.
Assistant professor at Technical University of Munich, Germany
Understanding the soil-organisms´ interface to manage soil ecosystem services in a changing world
Soils are at the nexus of the major challenges that humanity is facing. Being a sink and source of carbon, soils can play a key role in mitigation and adaptation to climate change. Besides, soils are the habitat for a myriad of organisms, including plants, soil fauna and microorganisms, whose activity and interactions within soils support most soil-related ecosystem services. Soil and its organisms thus work in consortium to support food, fiber, and bioenergy production to a growing population. However, these regulation, support, and supply services provided by soils are hampered by inadequate management strategies that have led to a degradation of soils, including the loss of soil organic carbon stocks, the decrease of soil fertility and the alteration of soil structure.
This lecture will demonstrate the links between plants, soil fauna, and microorganisms, and their associations with the soil organo-mineral constituents. We will explore how earthworms drive plant residues´ decomposition and build structures that enhance carbon storage in soils. We will unravel how roots, together with their surrounding soil and microorganisms, can represent a significant carbon sink and a lever to improve both soil fertility and crop yield. This talk will also examine various alternatives to maintain or improve the ecosystem services provided by soils in both intensively managed arable lands and remote mountainous grasslands, using adapted fertilization and grazing strategies.
Short bio:
Alix Vidal is a soil biogeochemist, assistant professor at the Technical University of Munich in Freising, Germany, since November 2016. She defended her doctoral project on the role of earthworms on soil organic matter dynamics in September 2016 at the Sorbonne University in Paris, France. Alix Vidal dedicates her research activities in gathering fundamental understanding of soil biogeochemical processes and developing applied strategies for a sustainable management of soils in response to global change challenges. Her researches focus on soil organic matter dynamics at the interface between soil, plants, soil fauna and microorganisms. Her holistic approach, based on both laboratory and field experiments, calls for close collaborations across disciplines (e.g., chemistry, microbiology and plant physiology) and the merging of techniques to bridge spatial scales. For this purpose, she is conducting various projects that associate bulk quantitative information together with fine scale elemental and isotopic information to highlight the role of plant-soil-organisms interactions on soil biogeochemical properties. In parallel to her research activities, Alix Vidal is also teaching to multicultural students from first preparatory cycle to master level in French, English and German. Her teaching activities are mainly focusing on geosciences, soil contaminants and soil remediation.
Practical information
- General public
- Invitation required
- This event is internal
Organizer
- ENAC
Contact
- Cristina Perez