Spation-temporal evolution of soil properties, functions and ecosystem services

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.

Objectives

The objective of this research area is to study the spatio-temporal dynamics of soil properties, functions, and services, as well as their interrelationships, from the hour to the millennium and from the local to the global scale. This research area is structured around three themes: (i) remote sensing approaches to characterize surface conditions, map soil properties, and spectrally assess the influence of soil management practices on these properties; (ii) quantify and map soil functions, services, and health; and (iii) quantify the effect of global changes (climate change, land-use change, or land-management change) on soil evolution (dynamics of pedological processes and their consequences on soil properties) over timescales ranging from several decades to several centuries. Our assumptions are that the direction and speed of soil evolution are more reactive to low-amplitude anthropogenic pressures than commonly accepted and that temporal changes in soil properties determine spatio-temporal changes in soil functions, services or health and should be included in predictive approaches.

Examples of projects

ANR PEPR AgroEcoNum MELICERTES : Multi-sensor approaches and satellite time series for the spatialization of soil carbon (2022-2027). Emmanuelle Vaudour
EJP SOIL Call Externe SANCHOsTHIRST : Cover cropS (CC) ANd soil health and climAte CHaNge adaptatiOn in Semiarid woody crops. THe RemOte SensIng and furTHer scenaRIoS projecTions. Emmanuelle Vaudour
Thèse CIFRE L. Bellet - B’eauphiX (2023-2027) (Brie Eau Phyto Trajectoire avec le Se77). David Montagne
Horizon EU Soil-Health BENCHMARKS (2023-2027). Building a European network to advance soil health research, monitor soil heath and advocat for sustainable land use. Cyril Girardin
RMQS (2016-2028). Christian Mougin et Jasna Nikolic
Tersen DYNATECH : Dynamics of the evolution of agricultural technosols constructed from waste from Greater Paris (2023-2033). David Montagne

Staff involved

Researchers

Pierre Benoit, Claire Chenu, Patricia Garnier, Jean-Marc Gilliot, Sophie Boulanger-Joimel, Joël Michelin, David Montagne, Emmanuelle Vaudour, Laure Vieublé Gonod

Engineers & Technicians

Dalila Hadjar, Cyril Girardin, Florent Levavasseur, Lucie Martin, Valentin Serre

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