1-P6: TraiMErgy

Integrated trait-based modeling of carbon and energy flows in soil systems

The turnover and stabilization of soil organic matter (SOM) is the key to a highly productive agriculture and to climate change mitigation. TraiMErgy aims at the complex interplay between the soil microbiome and the carbon and energy flows in soil. Our central hypothesis is that the functional complexity of the soil microbiome and SOM controls matter and energy flows in soil systems. This hypothesis is tested using a novel, complex, data-driven bioenergetic “SoilSystems Model” (SoSyM-C). SoSyM-C will integrate biogeochemical, thermodynamic, multi-omics, and isotopic data. As such, it will link experimental evidence on ecological and thermodynamic regulation mechanisms of SOM bioenergetics from core and individual projects in PP 2322. SoSyM-C will be parameterized with these data and then systematically reduced to derive a less complex model version (SoSyM-P) that retains key controls on matter and energy flows in soil systems. The outcome of TraiMErgy will be a deeper understanding of soil organic matter turnover, coded in a mechanistic, robust and predictive biogeochemical-bioenergetic model.

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Link to English scientific abstract
Link to German scientific abstract

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Research Team