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SUMMARY:ENAC Seminar Series by Dr A. Vidal
DTSTART:20201030T101500
DTEND:20201030T110000
DTSTAMP:20260510T053647Z
UID:8695b1e9d5927ba406d0856fa7d38e0d804146c504100691551de904
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Dr Alix Vidal\n10:15 – 11:00 – Dr Alix Vidal\nAssistant pr
 ofessor at Technical University of Munich\, Germany\n\nUnderstanding the s
 oil-organisms´ interface to manage soil ecosystem services in a changing 
 world\n\nSoils are at the nexus of the major challenges that humanity is f
 acing. Being a sink and source of carbon\, soils can play a key role in mi
 tigation and adaptation to climate change. Besides\, soils are the habitat
  for a myriad of organisms\, including plants\, soil fauna and microorgani
 sms\, whose activity and interactions within soils support most soil-relat
 ed ecosystem services. Soil and its organisms thus work in consortium to s
 upport food\, fiber\, and bioenergy production to a growing population. Ho
 wever\, these regulation\, support\, and supply services provided by soils
  are hampered by inadequate management strategies that have led to a degra
 dation of soils\, including the loss of soil organic carbon stocks\, the d
 ecrease of soil fertility and the alteration of soil structure.\nThis lect
 ure will demonstrate the links between plants\, soil fauna\, and microorga
 nisms\, and their associations with the soil organo-mineral constituents. 
 We will explore how earthworms drive plant residues´ decomposition and bu
 ild structures that enhance carbon storage in soils. We will unravel how r
 oots\, together with their surrounding soil and microorganisms\, can repre
 sent a significant carbon sink and a lever to improve both soil fertility 
 and crop yield. This talk will also examine various alternatives to mainta
 in or improve the ecosystem services provided by soils in both intensively
  managed arable lands and remote mountainous grasslands\, using adapted fe
 rtilization and grazing strategies.\n\nShort bio:\nAlix Vidal is a soil bi
 ogeochemist\, assistant professor at the Technical University of Munich in
  Freising\, Germany\, since November 2016. She defended her doctoral proje
 ct on the role of earthworms on soil organic matter dynamics in September 
 2016 at the Sorbonne University in Paris\, France. Alix Vidal dedicates he
 r research activities in gathering fundamental understanding of soil bioge
 ochemical processes and developing applied strategies for a sustainable ma
 nagement of soils in response to global change challenges. Her researches 
 focus on soil organic matter dynamics at the interface between soil\, plan
 ts\, soil fauna and microorganisms. Her holistic approach\, based on both 
 laboratory and field experiments\, calls for close collaborations across d
 isciplines (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 t
 ogether with fine scale elemental and isotopic information to highlight th
 e role of plant-soil-organisms interactions on soil biogeochemical propert
 ies. 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 o
 n geosciences\, soil contaminants and soil remediation.\n 
LOCATION:Zoom https://epfl.zoom.us/j/85228260640
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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