Hydraulic effects of root-soil interactions
Abstract
Management strategies to stabilize and improve the physical and hydraulic properties of the soil are a major challenge for agriculture, soil and hydrological engineering facing increasing soil degradation. It is widely recognized that plants play a significant role among the various factors influencing soil structural porosity. Particularly roots are supposed to be a core element in plant related effects on soil properties. Based on an interdisciplinary approach integrating root research, soil physics, hydraulics and agronomy, the present project has three main objectives: (i) to provide a modelling framework describing hydraulic property evolution under the influence of an external driving force such as plant roots, (ii) to clarify the strength, form and hierarchical structure of root effects on the soil pore system in a conceptual model, and (iii) to exemplify the role of roots as biological component for the management of hydraulic properties under field conditions for the agro-environmental measure of cover cropping. The dynamic quantitative view on soil hydraulic properties presented in this project could be a substantial advance not only for water flow simulation. It could open new ways for a model based design and optimization of management measures oriented directly on the physical state of the soil, with hydraulic properties being a major concern. Applying the quantitative framework we propose for this general purpose, we expect to be able to clarify the root system’s potential role as (biological) component for such management strategies.
Publikationen
Project staff
Gernot Bodner
Priv.-Doz. Dr. Gernot Bodner
gernot.bodner@boku.ac.at
Tel: +43 1 47654-95115
Project Leader
01.10.2009 - 30.09.2012
Gerhard Kammerer
Ass.Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr.nat.techn. Gerhard Kammerer
gerhard.kammerer@boku.ac.at
Tel: +43 1 47654-81515
Project Staff
01.10.2009 - 30.09.2012
Willibald Loiskandl
Univ.-Prof. i.R. Dipl.-Ing. Dr.nat.techn. Willibald Loiskandl
willibald.loiskandl@boku.ac.at
Project Staff
01.10.2009 - 30.09.2012
Andrea Schnepf
Priv.-Doz. Dipl.-Ing. Dr.nat.techn. Andrea Schnepf MSc.
andrea.schnepf@boku.ac.at
Project Staff
01.10.2009 - 30.09.2012
Hans-Peter Kaul
Univ.Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr.nat.techn. Hans-Peter Kaul
hans-peter.kaul@boku.ac.at
Tel: +43 1 47654-95111
Sub Projectleader
01.10.2009 - 30.09.2012
Andreas Schwen
Priv.-Doz. Dipl.-Geow. Dr.nat.techn. Andreas Schwen
andreas.schwen@boku.ac.at
Project Staff
01.10.2009 - 30.09.2012
BOKU partners
External partners
Lincoln University (New Zeland)
Prof. Graeme Buchan
partner