Core course:
Soil, soil biology & soil hydrology 2021
1. General information
Date: October 04 - November 19, 2021
Location: lecture room of the MPI-BGC and in the Institute of Biodiversity (Dornburger Str. 159), Room 401.
Teachers:
Marion Schrumpf
Gerd Gleixner
Kirsten Küsel
Anke Hildebrandt
Iris Kuhlmann
Carlos Sierra
Markus Lange
Will Overholt
Category: Courses related to soil, soil biology and soil hydrology
Credits: 0.2 CP per course day
2. Introduction
The rationale of this module is to provide PhD researchers with a general idea of soil formation, life within the soil, the links to biogeochemical cycles, as well as transport processes.
Key integrating aspects (propositions, to be continued):
- Everything is connected (i.e. the water, C, N, P and mineral cycles interact nowhere as closely as in the soil)
- Time scales of the different interacting cycles (time of soil formation, vs. time of complete degradation of this years litter vs. time of complete exchange of water within the soil volume?)
- Soil structure connects with biogeochemistry as well as water flow
3. Suggested reading
Brady & Weil (2001). The Nature and Properties of Soils. Prentice Hall
4. Agenda
COVID-19: we plan to have an in-person course, but we will need to see if this is possible in September.
The agenda is preliminary. The total number of students is limited to 19.
In the following you see the preliminary schedule:
Legend
L = lecture, D = demonstration, P = practical, E = excursion
| Day & Time | Type | Content | Who
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon, October 4 | Intro to soil science and the mineral phase of the soil |
| |
| 09:00 - 10:30 | L | Important aspects of soil science - Soil function and formation - Intro to soil phases (water/air, mineral, organic) | Marion Schrumpf
|
| 11:00 - 12:00 | E/D | Soil description and sampling (close to the MPI) - Description of soil profile - Measurement of simple soil properties in the field | Marion Schrumpf
|
| 13:00 - 14:00 | E/D | Soil description and sampling (close to the MPI) - Description of soil profile - Measurement of simple soil properties in the field | Marion Schrumpf
|
| 14:30 - 16:00 | L | Soil classification - Key concepts and systems - Soil transfer functions - Soil properties and ecological site characteristics | Marion Schrumpf
|
| Wed, October 6 | Soil lab |
| |
| 09:00 - 12:00 | D, P | - Field Experiments & Instrumentation/Workshop - Tools for soil sampling | |
| 13:00 - 15:00 | D, P | - Sample preparation for different analyses - Monitoring and manipulations | Iris Kuhlmann
|
| Fri, October 8 | C-N cycles in the soil (connection to the organic soil phase) |
| |
| 09:00 - 10:30 | L | Soil C and N stocks and turnover - Carbon stabilization mechanisms - C and N processes and interactions - Methods for determination of substrates and C/N processes and isotopic markers | Gerd Gleixner
|
| 10:45 - 13:00 - via Zoom | L, P | Modeling soil organic matter dynamics in R please bring a laptop with a current version of R and RStudio installed. You will need the packages SoilR and FME | Carlos Sierra
|
| 14:00 - 15:30 - via Zoom | L | Response of soil processes to change of moisture and temperature (climate change) | Carlos Sierra
|
| Thu, October 14 | Soil fauna, pore & water phase, transport processes |
| |
| 08:30 - 09:45 | L | Overview of soil fauna - Biodiversity of soil organisms - soil food webs - Role of functional organism groups for biogeochemical processes (including their role for soil structure) | Markus Lange
|
| 10:00 - 11:45 | L | Soil hydrology - Water flow/storage in unsaturated and saturated media, incl. non-linear processes, macro-pore flow - Water balance at soil surface - Plant – water interactions | Anke Hildebrandt
|
| 12:45 - 14:00 | L | Transport in porous media | Anke Hildebrandt
|
| 15:00 - 16:00 | L | Soil degradation - (compaction, loss of organic carbon, acidification, increased erosion, i.e. results of intensive land use) | Marion Schrumpf
|
| Fri, November 19 | Soil biology (II) lecture hall on the 4th floor |
| |
| 09:00 - 10:30 | L | Soil microbiology - Actors/drivers in element cycles - Methods of soil biology (classical field & laboratory incubations) | Kirsten Küsel
|
| 10:45 - 13:00 | P | DNA extraction from soil PCR (16S Bacteria, 16S Archaea, 18S Eukarya) | Will Overholt
|
| 14:00 - 15:00 | P | Gelelectrophoresis (with prepared PCR products) Gel analysis (with prepared Gel) | Will Overholt
|
| 15:15 - 17:00 | L | Wetland microbiology - Actors/drivers in element cycles | Kirsten Küsel
|
5. Course material
Soil formation processes and properties (by Marion Schrumpf)
Soil sorption classification and soil of the world (by Marion Schrumpf)