Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS
Content archived on 2024-05-27

Precipitation pattern effects on plant-soil microbial interactions

Objective

Global environmental change is predicted in Europe to result in increased frequency and intensity of extreme climatic events, including severe droughts and intense precipitation events. Such changes will affect plant physiology, microbial activity and soil nutrient cycling, inducing changes in ecosystem functioning, with expected consequences on in plant community composition, net primary productivity and carbon balance. Thus, it is crucial to consider the effect of precipitation patterns of contrasted amplitude on the plant-soil interaction. The main objective of this project is to understand the mechanisms of the coupling between precipitation patterns and carbon and nitrogen cycling in the plant-soil microbial system. The effect of precipitation patterns of contrasting amplitude will be addressed in a multidisciplinary approach combining state-of-the-art molecular techniques with stable isotope approaches to enable a detailed understanding of the functioning of the plant-soil system that ultimately relates belowground fluxes to the activity of the soil microbial population. Changes in the structure of the active microbial community over the long term will be assessed using a high-density oligonucleotide microarray chip, a cutting-edge tool which allows to assess which prokaryotic operational taxonomic units are active in the soil. The fluxes of carbon and nitrogen between plant and soil microbes will be determined using isotopic methods. The mechanisms underlying plant-soil microbial interactions in response to contrasting precipitation patterns will be identified under controlled conditions during the outgoing phase then validated in the field during the return phase, enabling valuable insight into the future implications of changes in European summer climate for plant nitrogen availability, and providing crucial information for the development of mitigation strategies.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Keywords

Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

FP7-PEOPLE-2007-4-1-IOF
See other projects for this call

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

MC-IOF - International Outgoing Fellowships (IOF)

Coordinator

EIDGENOESSISCHE TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE ZUERICH
EU contribution
€ 246 186,81
Address
Raemistrasse 101
8092 Zuerich
Switzerland

See on map

Region
Schweiz/Suisse/Svizzera Zürich Zürich
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

No data
My booklet 0 0