Carbon Storage and Biological Interactions in Soils

The course teaches fundamental processes controlling carbon turnover and storage in soils and how soil organic stocks are impacted by environment, climate and land use. The course emphasizes the influence soil organic carbon has on the physical, chemical, and biological properties of soil as well as the global carbon balance. The course covers the role of plants and microorganisms in the formation and decomposition of the carbon rich organic substances collectively referred to as soil organic matter and teaches the influence of both quantity and quality of soil organic matter. Thus, the course delivers a key to understanding why carbon is sometimes quickly released back to the atmosphere and sometimes preserved in the soil for centuries.

The course includes a practical laboratory exercise using state-of-the art stable isotope analytical techniques. This includes an investigation of organic matter turnover rates in soils by studying the temporal change in ¹³C abundance from samples collected in long-term field trials.