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Project properties |
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| Title | Sustainable agricultural practices for climate change mitigation/adaptation and provision of ecosystem services |
| Group | Soil Physics and Land Management group |
| Project type | thesis |
| Credits | 24-39 |
| Supervisor(s) | Jantiene Baartman |
| Examiner(s) | Coen Ritsema |
| Contact info | jantiene.baartman@wur.nl |
| Begin date | 2021/05/25 |
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| Description | Agriculture and associated land use changes contribute ~25% of total global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions (Paustian et al 2016), being CO2 responsible for 50% of average annual GHG emissions for the 2000 2009 period (Smith et al 2014). Isolated studies reveal how soil can be very relevant carbon sinks, capable of changing annual carbon balances in terrestrial ecosystems (Le Quéré et al 2018). Specifically, more local studies (Albaladejo et al 2013) suggest that agricultural soils may have a key role in carbon capture and storage and, especially, when they have low organic carbon contents, far from saturation, such as dryland agricultural soils, traditionally unproductive and marginalized. In this sense, the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices (reducing tillage, growing cover crops, and implementing crop residue retention measures besides others) can substantially reduce these emissions and sequester some of the CO2 removed from the atmosphere by plants, which is further incorporated as carbon (C) in soil organic matter (SOM). The general aim of this MSc thesis is to identify the most efficient combinations of sustainable agricultural practices to enhance the potential of semiarid cropping systems for optimizing ecosystem services related to climate regulation through soil carbon sequestration. It is expected to advance on the knowledge of soil organic carbon (SOC) stabilization mechanisms under different combinations of sustainable agricultural practices and edapho-climatic conditions.
Research Objective/Question •Estimate SOC stocks and sequestration rates under different combinations of agricultural practices. •Assess changes in soil aggregate size distribution (as an indicator of soil structure) and associated OC pools in agroecosystems under different soil managements. •Identify soil carbon pools as indicators of different SOC stabilization mechanisms under different soil managements. What is expected from the student (type of research) •Interest in conducting field and laboratory work, particularly with soils and sediments •Independence, responsibility and autonomy •Interest in learning methodological approaches for measuring soil CO2emissions, erosion rates, soil carbon stocks, and carbon balance assessments. •Experience in data management and statistical analyses •Basic Spanish skills and driving licence are desirable but not essential |
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