Towards climate-smart sustainable management of agricultural soils

Soil fauna and microbial communities drive key ecosystem functions, such as nutrient supply to primary production and SOC accumulation. However, plant diversity shapes soil biota composition and activity via rhizodeposition and N-P uptake, microbial symbioses, and trophic cascades. In EU experimental sites network, the project will study how agroecological intensification of cropping systems (e.g. introduction of plant services) can allow better regulation of degradation/resynthesis of soil organic matter and nutrient cycling by the plant-soil system. Advantages and disadvantages of such agroecological systems will be compared to less conservative ones for plant-soil fauna-microbial functional diversity, biomass production, N-leaching, soil C-stable pools, GHG emission and C sequestration.