Unravelling mechanisms of soil carbon sequestration

Abstract

To address the fundamental mechanisms of soil carbon (C) sequestration several expertise are needed in microbial ecology, geochemistry, physical and colloid chemistry. The emerging view of soil organic matter (SOM), the largest reservoir of C in terrestrial ecosystems, is that stability towards microbial activity is controlled by the biological and physicochemical environments and not by SOM chemical composition alone. It follows that mechanistic understanding of soil C sequestration can only be achieved by combining biological and physical tools with appropriate time and spatial resolution as well as sensitivity. Several of these techniques are available at large- scale synchrotron and neutron facilities, and the synchrotron available at LNLS (Laboratório Nacional de Luz Synchrotron) can be used to obtain structural characterization. Motivated by the strong need of a cross-disciplinary approach in this research area, we here propose to establish a broad research environment in molecular biogeochemistry that brings together relevant expertise from biology, chemistry and physics between Lund University and Universidade Estadual de Campinas. (AU)