Coordination Funds

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Large fluxes of solar energy conserved in organic matter (OM) pass through soil as conduit from primary production to mineralisation. Soil (micro)organisms are channelling the flux, are fuelled by the provided energy, and contribute by their bio- and necromass. Thermodynamic principles are generally valid for the Earth System, and thus also for soils. Hence, we need to consider the energy use and maintenance (energy budgets) of microbiomes related to carbon use, biocoenotic structures and environmental boundary conditions in soil. SoilSystems as the coordination project of SPP 2223 will provide the scientific and organisational framework for conducting research in the SPP by organizing interdisciplinary knowledge exchange and collaboration, soil and substrate provision, data collection and refinement, synthesis and modelling. This is done by a coordination panel supported by a coordination assistant dealing with A) the scientific progress and B) the organizational management of SPP 2322.A) SoilSystems aims to widen soil research by considering soils as energy driven systems by including thermodynamics concepts. The project will apply a systemic concept for linking balances of changes of Gibbs energy and heat production to (i) OM turnover (mass balances, retention, pathways, stoichiometry, kinetics) and (ii) to the microbiome (activity, functional traits, trophic interactions). SoilSystems will focus on poorly understood microbial processes of carbon and energy use efficiency (CUE, EUE) that drive OM along energy use channels, thereby converting easily degradable detritus molecules to microbial biomass and finally long-term stabilised necromass. This concept will be applied in a set of collaborative core-projects using soil incubation experiments and isotope labelled substrates with defined energy supply and molecular structures in order to evaluate losses, efficiencies, and the modes of energy and matter retention. It is aimed to combine thermodynamics based analyses and conceptual modelling with time and space resolved sampling. SoilSystems will provide a substantial step forward in understanding energy retention and element cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. Thereby, SoilSystems aims to answer the key-question: What drives the combined energy and matter fluxes in soil exemplified by carbon turnover and storage - the microbiome, the energy input, the mineral and (environmental) boundary conditions, or interactions of all? B) To optimize cooperative research in SPP 2322 all participating projects will benefit from the central management. Soils, substrates and instrumentation for calorimetry will be provided through a common experimental platform. Data are stored and shared on a joint data repository. Research is supported by promoting external cooperation and a Mercator fellow. Project meetings invite for discussion and presentation. Not last specific measures will enable gender equality for full participation in research and academic career