Core course: Soil, soil biology & soil hydrology 2019
Category: Core course
0.2 CP per course day
The rationale of this module is to provide PhD researchers with a general idea of soil formation, life within the soil, the links to biogeochemical cycles, as well as transport processes.
Key integrating aspects (propositions, to be continued):
- Everything is connected (i.e. the water, C, N, P and mineral cycles interact nowhere as closely as in the soil)
- Time scales of the different interacting cycles (time of soil formation, vs. time of complete degradation of this years litter vs. time of complete exchange of water within the soil volume?)
- Soil structure connects with biogeochemistry as well as water flow
1. Date
May 6-17, 2019
The lectures will take place in the seminar room B0.002, B0.004 and in the Institute of Biodiversity (Dornburger Str. 159), Room 401.
2. Suggested reading
Brady & Weil (2001). The Nature and Properties of Soils. Prentice Hall
3. Outline
In the following you see the preliminary schedule:
Legend
L = lecture, D = demonstration, P = practical, E = excursion
| Day & Time | Type | Content | Who |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon, May 6 | Intro to soil science and the mineral phase of the soil | ||
| 09:00 - 10:30 | L | Important aspects of soil science - Soil function and formation - Intro to soil phases (water/air, mineral, organic) | Beate Michalzik |
| 10:45 - 12:15 | L | Soil classification - Key concepts and systems - Soil transfer functions - Soil properties and ecological site characteristics | Beate Michalzik |
| 13:15 - 16:30 | E/D | Soil description and sampling (close to the MPI) - Description of soil profile - Measurement of simple soil properties in the field | Beate Michalzik |
| Wed, May 8 | Soil lab | ||
| 09:00 - 12:00 | D, P | - Field Experiments & Instrumentation/Workshop - Tools for soil sampling | Iris Kuhlmann |
| 13:00 - 15:00 | D, P | - Sample preparation for different analyses - Monitoring and manipulations | Iris Kuhlmann |
| Thu, May 9 | Soil fauna, pore & water phase, transport processes | ||
| 09:00 - 10:30 | L | Overview of soil fauna - Biodiversity of soil organisms - soil food webs - Role of functional organism groups for biogeochemical processes (including their role for soil structure) | Markus Lange |
| 10:45 - 12:30 | L | Soil hydrology - Water flow/storage in unsaturated and saturated media, incl. non-linear processes, macro-pore flow - Water balance at soil surface - Plant – water interactions | Anke Hildebrandt |
| 13:30 - 15:00 | L | Transport in porous media | Anke Hildebrandt |
| Fri, May 10 | C-N cycles in the soil (connection to the organic soil phase) | ||
| 09:00 - 10:30 | L | Soil C and N stocks and turnover - Carbon stabilization mechanisms - C and N processes and interactions - Methods for determination of substrates and C/N processes and isotopic markers | Gerd Gleixner |
| 10:45 - 13:00 | L, P | Modeling soil C and N turnover (lecture and modeling exercises with C / N / H2O soil modules) please bring a laptop with a current version of R and RStudio installed. You will need the packages SoilR and FME | Carlos Sierra |
| 14:00 - 15:00 | L | Soil degradation - (compaction, loss of organic carbon, acidification, increased erosion, i.e. results of intensive land use) | Marion Schrumpf |
| 15:15 - 16:15 | L | Response of soil processes to change of moisture and temperature (climate change) | Carlos Sierra |
| Wed, May 15 | Soil biology (II) lecture hall on the 4th floor | ||
| 08:30 - 10:00 | L | Soil microbiology - Actors/drivers in element cycles - Methods of soil biology (classical field & laboratory incubations) | Kirsten Küsel |
| 10:15 - 13:00 | P | DNA extraction from soil PCR (16S Bacteria, 16S Archaea, 18S Eukarya) | Will Overholt |
| 14:00 - 14:30 | P | Gelelectrophoresis (with prepared PCR products) Gel analysis (with prepared Gel) | Will Overholt |
| 14:30 - 16:00 | L | Wetland microbiology - Actors/drivers in element cycles | Kirsten Küsel |
4. Material
Material of the soil lab by Iris Kuhlmann and Ingo Schöning (zip)
5. Feedback
Click here to see the feedback of the participants. Statistics and statements should not be taken as an exhaustive or exclusive list.