Soil&Tox

Public decisions, particularly those concerning land management and soil regulations, must be based on reliable soil quality indicators and require a spatial inventory of soil properties. It is important to move beyond the traditional characterization of soil status to quantify how soils function and provide ecosystem services, and how these functions and services evolve over time and space under the impact of climate change, land use and development, and soil management practices. We aim to facilitate the adoption and operationalization of soil function and service assessment tools by socio-economic stakeholders for guiding public policies and land management systems. The levels of observation we employ are diverse, ranging from the laboratory to the field and from space.

This research area studies soil organic matter, its decomposition and storage in soils, as well as its spatial distribution, both at the microscopic scale within the 3D structure of soils and at spatial organization levels from the plot to the region. We focus particularly on the mechanisms that govern the storage and stabilization of organic matter and carbon storage in the soil, as well as on the processes that influence the spatial distribution of this storage.

Contamination from human activities is a major cause of the decline in biodiversity and ecosystem services. The Soil&Tox team studies soil contamination by pollutants, the fate of these pollutants, and their impacts on non-target organisms. Our research covers a wide range of chemical contaminants, with synthetic pesticides and biocontrol products, pharmaceuticals, trace metals, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons as our main subjects of study, in a variety of contexts (agricultural, urban, and peri-urban).

Preserving soil biodiversity and the functions it provides in heavily anthropized ecosystems (agricultural, urban and peri-urban soils) is a major challenge for the ecological transition.

Recycling organic waste products (OWP) in agriculture can improve the chemical, physical, and biological fertility of soils. This recycling can also allow for the substitution of mineral fertilizers and/or an increase in agricultural production. However, various contaminants (pathogens, microplastics, organic and inorganic) can be applied to soils during this recycling process and accumulate in the soil and/or be transferred to crops and/or water, with potential ecotoxicological effects. Other environmental impacts can occur, such as nitrate leaching and gaseous emissions (ammonia, greenhouse gases, volatile organic compounds). All effects vary depending on (i) the characteristics of the OWP applied, in relation to its origin and potential treatment, (ii) the soil and climate conditions, and (iii) the cropping system in which this recycling takes place. Furthermore, the potential use of OWP depends on its local availability within the territories.