Section: Context & scientific questions | AGROECOLVRE - Soil and subsoil carbon sequestration metadata analysis as a function of land uses and agroecological practices | LifeWatch ERIC Training Platform

  • Context

    Soil carbon sequestration is key to mitigating climate change and improving agroecosystem productivity, with soils storing 85% of terrestrial carbon. However, data fragmentation hampers understanding of soil organic matter and its link to land use and management practices. To address this, AGROECOLVRE, funded under AgroServ's 1st Transnational/Virtual access call for research projects, will use a multi-dimensional approach. It will start with a stakeholder mapping and assessment of existing databases. A Qualitative Stakeholder Panel will capture user needs to customize a Soil Health module in the LifeWatch ERIC Virtual Research Environment (VRE) for Agroecology. Interdisciplinary collaboration will ensure the integration of specialized tools, providing researchers and policymakers with a standardized database and analytical platform to model, monitor, and enhance soil carbon sequestration. A case study will analyze the carbon storage potential as a result of the soil pH gradient and type of land use. 

    Scientific questions

    Through the development of this workflow we aim at addressing the main scientific questions as follows:

    Q1: Can we use LUCAS data (Topsoil and Core datasets) to assess the long-term impact of land use on the soils chemical variables at different scales (regional to EU)?

    Q2: Can we assess the carbon sequestration potential of soils in relation to a soil pH gradient and different land use types across EU?