Sediment erosion and transport is critical to the ecological and commercial health of aquatic habitats from watershed to sea. There is now a consensus that microorganisms inhabiting the system mediate the erosive response of natural sediments ('ecosystem engineers') along with physicochemical properties. The biological mechanism is through secretion of a microbial organic glue (EPS: extracellular polymeric substances) that enhances binding forces between sediment grains to impact sediment stability and post-entrainment flocculation. The proposed work will elucidate the functional capability of heterotrophic bacteria, cyanobacteria and eukaryotic microalgae for mediating freshwater sediments to influence sediment erosion and transport. The potential and relevance of natural biofilms to provide this important 'ecosystem service' will be investigated for different niches in a freshwater habitat. Thereby, variations of the EPS 'quality' and 'quantity' to influence cohesion within sediments and flocs will be related to shifts in biofilm composition, sediment characteristics (e.g. organic background) and varying abiotic conditions (e.g. light, hydrodynamic regime) in the water body. Thus, the proposed interdisciplinary work will contribute to a conceptual understanding of microbial sediment engineering that represents an important ecosystem function in freshwater habitats. The research has wide implications for the water framework directive and sediment management strategies.
Prehistoric pits are filled with ancient topsoil material, which has been preserved there over millennia. A characteristic of these pit fillings is that their colour is different depending on the time the soil material was relocated. Soil colour is the result of soil forming processes and soil properties, and it could therefore indicate the soil characteristics present during that specific period. To the best of our knowledge, no investigation analysed and explained the reasons for these soil colour changes over time. The proposed project will investigate soil parameters from pit fillings of different archaeological periods in the loess area of the Lower Rhine Basin (NW-Germany). It aims to implement the measurement of colour spectra as a novel analytical tool for the rapid analyses of a high number of soil samples: the main goal is to relate highresolution colour data measured by a spectrophotometer to soil parameters that were analysed by conventional pedogenic methods and by mid infrared spectroscopy (MIRS), with a main focus on charred organic matter (BPCAs). This tool would enable us to quantify the variation of soil properties over a timescale of several millennia, during different prehistoric periods at regional scale and for loess soils in general. Detailed information concerning changing soil properties on a regional scale is necessary to determine past soil quality and it helps to increase our understanding of prehistoric soil cultivation practices. Furthermore, these information could also help to increase our understanding about agricultural systems in different archaeological periods.
We are currently facing the urgent need to improve our understanding of carbon cycling in subsoils, because the organic carbon pool below 30 cm depth is considerably larger than that in the topsoil and a substantial part of the subsoil C pool appears to be much less recalcitrant than expected over the last decades. Therefore, small changes in environmental conditions could change not only carbon cycling in topsoils, but also in subsoils. While organic matter stabilization mechanisms and factors controlling its turnover are well understood in topsoils, the underlying mechanisms are not valid in subsoils due to depth dependent differences regarding (1) amounts and composition of C-pools and C-inputs, (2) aeration, moisture and temperature regimes, (3) relevance of specific soil organic carbon (SOC) stabilisation mechanisms and (4) spatial heterogeneity of physico-chemical and biological parameters. Due to very low C concentrations and high spatio-temporal variability of properties and processes, the investigation of subsoil phenomena and processes poses major methodological, instrumental and analytical challenges. This project will face these challenges with a transdisciplinary team of soil scientists applying innovative approaches and considering the magnitude, chemical and isotopic composition and 14C-content of all relevant C-flux components and C-fractions. Taking also the spatial and temporal variability into account, will allow us to understand the four-dimensional changes of C-cycling in this environment. The nine closely interlinked subprojects coordinated by the central project will combine field C-flux measurements with detailed analyses of subsoil properties and in-situ experiments at a central field site on a sandy soil near Hannover. The field measurements are supplemented by laboratory studies for the determination of factors controlling C stabilization and C turnover. Ultimately, the results generated by the subprojects and the data synthesized in the coordinating project will greatly enhance our knowledge and conceptual understanding of the processes and controlling factors of subsoil carbon turnover as a prerequisite for numerical modelling of C-dynamics in subsoils.
The majority of the worlds forests has undergone some form of management, such as clear-cut or thinning. This management has direct relevance for global climate: Studies estimate that forest management emissions add a third to those from deforestation, while enhanced productivity in managed forests increases the capacity of the terrestrial biosphere to act as a sink for carbon dioxide emissions. However, uncertainties in the assessment of these fluxes are large. Moreover, forests influence climate also by altering the energy and water balance of the land surface. In many regions of historical deforestation, such biogeophysical effects have substantially counteracted warming due to carbon dioxide emissions. However, the effect of management on biogeophysical effects is largely unknown beyond local case studies. While the effects of climate on forest productivity is well established in forestry models, the effects of forest management on climate is less understood. Closing this feedback cycle is crucial to understand the driving forces behind past climate changes to be able to predict future climate responses and thus the required effort to adapt to it or avert it. To investigate the role of forest management in the climate system I propose to integrate a forest management module into a comprehensive Earth system model. The resulting model will be able to simultaneously address both directions of the interactions between climate and the managed land surface. My proposed work includes model development and implementation for key forest management processes, determining the growth and stock of living biomass, soil carbon cycle, and biophysical land surface properties. With this unique tool I will be able to improve estimates of terrestrial carbon source and sink terms and to assess the susceptibility of past and future climate to combined carbon cycle and biophysical effects of forest management. Furthermore, representing feedbacks between forest management and climate in a global climate model could advance efforts to combat climate change. Changes in forest management are inevitable to adapt to future climate change. In this process, is it possible to identify win-win strategies for which local management changes do not only help adaptation, but at the same time mitigate global warming by presenting favorable effects on climate? The proposed work opens a range of long-term research paths, with the aim of strengthening the climate perspective in the economic considerations of forest management and helping to improve local decisionmaking with respect to adaptation and mitigation.
norganische Funktionsmaterialien spielen innerhalb der Schlüsseltechnologien des 21. Jahrhunderts, etwa im Bereich der Informationstechnik oder der Energieerzeugung und -speicherung, eine zentrale Rolle. Dabei sind komplex strukturierte multifunktionelle Materialien auf rein anorganischer Basis sowie im Verbund mit organischen Anteilen zur Weiterentwicklung dieser Technologien von wesentlicher Bedeutung. Die Erzeugung solcher Materialien mit definierter Struktur und Stöchiometrie über die konventionelle Prozesstechnik, die in der Regel bei erhöhten Temperaturen und/oder Drücken sowie unter erheblichem verfahrenstechnischen Aufwand abläuft, stößt hierbei jedoch an ihre Grenzen. Demgemäß ist die Suche nach neuen Verfahren, die eine Generierung von diesen Materialien bei Umgebungsbedingungen und mit reduziertem prozesstechnischen Aufwand ermöglichen, derzeit Gegenstand weltweiter Forschungsanstrengungen. Für die Bildung von komplex strukturierten anorganischen Festkörpern bei Umgebungsbedingungen liefert die belebte Natur eindrucksvolle Beispiele. So entstehen durch Biomineralisationsprozesse Stoffe wie etwa Calciumphosphat oder -carbonat, deren Bildung genetisch determiniert ist und durch die Wechselwirkung mit Biomolekülen gesteuert wird, wobei unter anderem Selbstorganisationsprozesse eine Rolle spielen. Die hierdurch entstehenden anorganischen Materialien besitzen multifunktionelle Eigenschaften, wobei deren Eigenschaftsspektrum durch den Einbau von bioorganischen Komponenten erweitert wird. Wenngleich viele technisch relevante Materialien bei diesen natürlichen Prozessen keine Rolle spielen, ergeben sich hieraus unmittelbar aussichtsreiche Perspektiven zur Generierung neuer anorganischer Funktionsmaterialien durch spezifische molekulare Interaktionen zwischen bioorganischen und anorganischen Stoffen. Das Hauptziel dieses Schwerpunktprogramms ist daher die Übertragung von Prinzipien der Biomineralisation auf die Generierung von anorganischen Funktionsmaterialien und von deren Hybriden mit bioorganischen Anteilen. Zur Erreichung dieses Ziels werden Arbeiten durchgeführt (1) zur In-vitro- und In-vivo-Synthese anorganischer Funktionsmaterialien und deren Hybride mit bioorganischen Molekülen in Form von Schichten oder 3D-Strukturen, (2) zur Charakterisierung der Bildungsprozesse und der Struktur der Materialien sowie (3) zur Bestimmung und zum Design von deren physikalischen und chemischen Eigenschaften. Diese experimentellen Untersuchungen werden weiterhin durch Arbeiten zur Modellierung der Materialbildung, -struktur und -eigenschaften begleitet.
Passatwindkumuli spielen eine essentielle Rolle im Strahlungshaushalt der Erde und sind verantwortlich für bis zu 20 % des tropischen Niederschlags. Noch ist nicht bekannt, wie Passatwindkumuli auf die globale Erwärmung reagieren werden. Durch Niederschlag verändern sich Wolkeneigenschaften, aber auch die Grenzschichtstruktur und -dynamik. Aufgrund der Vielzahl der beteiligten Prozesse ist die Niederschlagsentwicklung in Modellen ist unsicher. Die Konfiguration der Simulationen und Wahl der Parameterisierung, wie das Autokonversionsschema, beeinflussen Niederschlagsfluss, Wolkenstruktur und â€Ìorganisation. Bisher konnten Vergleiche mit Beobachtungen noch nicht zur Reduktion der Unsicherheit des Autokonversionsschemas beitragen. Radarreflektivität, die mit Standardmethoden aus bodengebundenen Messungen abgeleitet wird, erkennt Niederschlag erst in einem fortgeschrittenen Stadium, was es schwierig macht, die verschiedenen, den Regen verursachenden Faktoren zu entflechten. Durch die Verdunstung des Niederschlags unterhalb der Wolkenunterkante (WUK) bestimmt dieser die Stärke der Coldpools und ist so bedeutend für die Organisation von Konvektion und somit die Klimasensitivität: Daher ist es essentiell Verdunstungsraten zu bestimmen und deren räumlich-zeitliche Variabilität zu verstehen. Zwar gibt es Parameterisierungen der Verdunstung unterhalb der WUK, allerdings sind diese von der Größe der Regentropfen abhängig, welche jedoch schlecht direkt zu beobachten ist.Ziel dieses Antrages ist die Bestimmung von Faktoren, welche die Niederschlagsformation in Passatwindkumuli beeinflussen. Dazu werden neuartige Radarbeobachtungen dieser Prozesse zur genaueren Beschreibung der Niederschlagsentwicklung in Grobstruktursimulationen (LES) herangezogen. Die räumlich-zeitliche Verdunstungsverteilung wird unterhalb der WUK in den Passatwindkumuli untersucht und treibende Faktoren identifiziert. Das Forschungsvorhaben ergänzt die bevorstehende EUREC4A (A Field Campaign to Elucidate the Couplings Between Clouds, Convection and Circulation) Kampagne und nutzt die langjährige Datenreihe des Barbados Cloud Observatory (BCO).Die synergetischen bodengebundenen Beobachtungen und der neue Ansatz, Niederschlag in Wolken mit Hilfe höherer Momente des Wolkenradardopplerspektrums zu bestimmen, werden erstmalig zur Beobachtungen von Passatwindkumuli und der Charakterisierung des Niederschlagslebenszyklus zu angewendet. Damit wird es möglich die Niederschlagsentwicklung in den hochauflösenden ICON-LEM und DHARMA-LES Modellen zu evaluieren. Für einen statistischen Vergleich der Simulationen und der Beobachtungen wird der Vorwärtsoperator PAMTRA verwendet, so dass im Beobachtungsraum untersucht werden kann, inwiefern die Modelle die beobachteten, mittleren Werte und Abhängigkeiten reproduzieren können und systematischen Fehler identifiziert werden. Damit trägt das Vorhaben zum Grand Challenge on Cloud Circulation and Climate Sensitivity des Weltklimaforschungsprogramm WRCP bei.
Teilprojekt C05 hat zum Ziel, den wichtigen Eintragsweg für Kunststoffe, in Form von Mikroplastik, in die Umwelt aus technischen Anlagen (MP) mechanistisch aufzuklären. Gleichzeitig sollen neue Ansätze verfolgt werden, die zur Vermeidung bzw. Reduktion von MP aus Standardkunststoffen maßgeblich beitragen sollen. Zu diesem Zweck sollen Polyethylen, Polypropylen, Polystyrol, Nylon, Polyethylenterephthalat, Polyisopren und Polyvinylchlorid durch Beschleuniger (in situ) in ihren Oberflächeneigenschaften für die Biofilmbildung modifiziert und dadurch unter Prozessbedingungen biologisch angreifbar und abbaubar gemacht werden. So können auch Standardkunststoffe umweltverträglicher bezüglich der MP-Partikel Bildung werden. Damit geht TP C05 weit über die bislang üblichen eher deskriptiven Studien zu MP in technischen Anlagen und der Umwelt hinaus. Folgende zentrale Fragen sollen in TP C05 in Hinblick MP-Partikel in technischen Anlagen der Abfall- und Abwasserwirtschaft beantwortet werden: 1. Kommt es in den Anlagen zu spezifischen (biologischen) Abbau- und Degradationsvorgängen? 2. Wie hängen die zu beobachtenden Prozesse von MP-Charakteristika (Materialsorte, Zusammensetzung, Größe, Morphologie, Beschichtung) ab, ? 3. Lassen sich die Vorgänge ('Bioabbaubarkeit') durch gezielte Modifikation der Partikeloberfläche vor oder in den Anlagen beschleunigen? 4. Welche ökologischen Konsequenzen einer Ausbringung der (modifizierten) Partikel in die Umwelt und hier vor allem in den Boden lassen sich postulieren?
Nutrient and water supply for organisms in soil is strongly affected by the physical and physico-chemical properties of the microenvironment, i.e. pore space topology (pore size, tortuosity, connectivity) and pore surface properties (surface charge, surface energy). Spatial decoupling of biological processes through the physical (spatial) separation of SOM, microorganisms and extracellular enzyme activity is apparently one of the most important factors leading to the protection and stabilization of soil organic matter (SOM) in subsoils. However, it is largely unknown, if physical constraints can explain the very low turnover rates of organic carbon in subsoils. Hence, the objective of P4 is to combine the information from the physical structure of the soil (local bulk density, macropore structure, aggregation, texture gradients) with surface properties of particles or aggregate surfaces to obtain a comprehensive set of physical important parameters. It is the goal to determine how relevant these physical factors in the subsoil are to enforce the hydraulic heterogeneity of the subsoil flow system during wetting and drying. Our hypothesis is that increasing water repellency enforces the moisture pattern heterogeneity caused already by geometrical factors. Pore space heterogeneity will be assessed by the bulk density patterns via x-ray radiography. Local pattern of soil moisture is evaluated by the difference of X-ray signals of dry and wet soil (project partner H.J. Vogel, UFZ Halle). With the innovative combination of three methods (high resolution X-ray radiography, small scale contact angle mapping, both applied to a flow cell shaped sample with undisturbed soil) it will be determined if the impact of water repellency leads to an increase in the hydraulic flow field heterogeneity of the unsaturated sample, i.e. during infiltration events and the following redistribution phase. An interdisciplinary cooperation within the research program is the important link which is realized by using the same flow cell samples to match the spatial patterns of physical, chemical, and biological factors in undisturbed subsoil. This cooperation with respect to spatial pattern analysis will include the analysis of enzyme activities within and outside of flow paths and the spatial distribution of key soil properties (texture, organic carbon, iron oxide content) evaluated by IR mapping. To study dissolved organic matter (DOM) sorption in soils of varying mineral composition and the selective association of DOM with mineral surfaces in context with recognized flow field pattern, we will conduct a central DOM leaching experiment and the coating of iron oxides which are placed inside the flow cell during percolation with marked DOM solution. Overall objective is to elucidate if spatial separation of degrading organisms and enzymes from the substrates may be interconnected with defined physical features of the soil matrix thus explaining subsoil SOM stability and -dynami
The overarching goal of our proposal is to understand the regulation of organic carbon (OC) transfor-mation across terrestrial-aquatic interfaces from soil, to lotic and lentic waters, with emphasis on ephemeral streams. These systems considerably expand the terrestrial-aquatic interface and are thus potential sites for intensive OC-transformation. Despite the different environmental conditions of ter-restrial, semi-aquatic and aquatic sites, likely major factors for the transformation of OC at all sites are the quality of the organic matter, the supply with oxygen and nutrients and the water regime. We will target the effects of (1) OC quality and priming, (2) stream sediment properties that control the advective supply of hyporheic sediments with oxygen and nutrients, and (3) the water regime. The responses of sediment associated metabolic activities, C turn-over, C-flow in the microbial food web, and the combined transformations of terrestrial and aquatic OC will be quantified and characterized in complementary laboratory and field experiments. Analogous mesocosm experiments in terrestrial soil, ephemeral and perennial streams and pond shore will be conducted in the experimental Chicken Creek catchment. This research site is ideal due to a wide but well-defined terrestrial-aquatic transition zone and due to low background concentrations of labile organic carbon. The studies will benefit from new methodologies and techniques, including development of hyporheic flow path tubes and comparative assessment of soil and stream sediment respiration with methods from soil and aquatic sciences. We will combine tracer techniques to assess advective supply of sediments, respiration measurements, greenhouse gas flux measurements, isotope labeling, and isotope natural abundance studies. Our studies will contribute to the understanding of OC mineralization and thus CO2 emissions across terrestrial and aquatic systems. A deeper knowledge of OC-transformation in the terrestrial-aquatic interface is of high relevance for the modelling of carbon flow through landscapes and for the understanding of the global C cycle.
We propose to use positron emission tomography (PET) for imaging of tracer migration in a soil horizon, to be coupled with image simulation using the lattice Boltzmann equation (LBE) modeling approach. PET enables direct visualization of inert KF or KBr solute migration at the soil horizon scale, but also reactive halogenated organic target (2,4-D and MCPA) compound migration down to nM concentrations once radiolabelling with 18F or 76Br marker is achieved. Retardation at biogeochemical interfaces with different sorption properties will thus be imaged in-situ. Theoretical image simulation for process verification will be enabled by introducing a multi-grid approach and additional kinetic boundary conditions in the parallelized LBE solver. As a boundary condition for the latter, the real pore scale and distribution of biogeochemical interfaces will be derived by X-ray computer-tomography (XCT) down to 300 nm spatial voxel resolution. The aim is to produce by both approaches velocity field movies due to heterogeneous biogeochemical retardation of the target compounds with high resolution in both the spatial and temporal scale (4D).
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