Breaking new ground for soil restoration: function and fate of core beneficial microbial consortium coated by pyrogenic carbon

Project Information

FIREMAN

Grant agreement ID: 101003391

DOI

10.3030/101003391

Project closed

EC signature date 3 April 2020

Start date 27 September 2020

End date 26 September 2022

Funded under

• SPREADING EXCELLENCE AND WIDENING PARTICIPATION

Total cost

€ 156 980,64

EU contribution

€ 156 980,64

Coordinated by

BIOLOGICKE CENTRUM AV CR VVI
Czechia

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - FIREMAN (Breaking new ground for soil restoration: function and fate of core beneficial microbial consortium coated by pyrogenic carbon)

Reporting period: 2020-09-27 to 2022-09-26

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Recent evidence reveals that core bacterial communities (CBMs) steer plant regeneration during their transplantation, implying that the interplay between CBMs and the host plant as a key driver for soil restoration. However, there is little insight into the composition and function (such as metabolism) of CBMs when transferring from the donor to the recipient soils, especially in the presence of demanding plant species. Over the last decade, pyrogenic carbon has developed in multiple sectors but requires new products with value-added benefits that work more consistently across regions such as EU, USA and Asia. Currently, companies maintain profits through diversification of products to different sectors, such as cosmetics. In accordance to UN Sustainable Development Goals for Climate Change, however, the largest gains of industrial use of pyrogenic carbon will be in breaking into the agricultural sector with enhanced products because of beneficial aspects of for waste management, C sequestration and crop yield improvement. Pyrogenic carbon provides protective micro-sites that are presumed to protect CBMs and ensure their functions in plant-soil feedback by decreasing the grazing intensity of their predators. The novelty of the promising context of combining burgeoning pyrogenic carbon and CBMs for soil restoration, which is also in accordance to UN Climate-smart agriculture across latitudes. This project will use bio-waste derived pyrogenic carbon as carriers for CBMs, to explore their protective effect on CBMs from grazers, and examine the function and community changes of CBMs encapsulated by pyrogenic carbon during transplantations, thus improving the conceptualizations of soil restoration regulated by microbial inoculate and pyrogenic carbon.
Conclusion of the action: Inoculum from the ancient soils did not benefit plant growth in the restored soils. Macro-aggregate inoculum from the restored soils had higher plant biomass than micro-aggregates in the ancient soils. Structural equation modelling showed that bacterial community composition (e.g. actinobacteria) significantly controlled total plant community biomass in the primary successional substrates. Overall, our study showed the effect of microbial community in soil aggregates on grasses and herbs’ community development. Our study also provides insights about how the surface hydraulic traits of PyChar modulate the development of microbial communities. Understanding the role of PyChar in soils is thus strongly recommended to include the surface hydraulic properties.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Until the completion of FIREMAN, I have published one scientific paper in Catena, titled “Unravelling the role of soil microflora from micro and macro aggregates in plant growth during primary and secondary successions” (open access: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4024807). Work pertinent to FIREMAN was presented in conferences: Title: Pyrogenic carbon from wildfire or the laboratory at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly (EGU) on 25 May 2022 (Virtual EGU22-2442), and Title: Surface hydraulic traits of pyrogenic carbon: an overlooked property in shaping microbial community assemblage development at Ecology of Soil Microorganisms on 19-23 June 2022 (Prague, Czech Republic). I gave lectures in the Hot topic of environmental sciences course (MO550C06E) at Charles University, Czech Republic in 2021. The course deals with the theoretical basis and principles of interactions between plants, soil and microorganisms and their practical implications, e.g. on soil management, soil fertility, and the circular economy. I have been serving as an Associate Editor in land degradation and development and Journal of Environmental Quality. Moreover, I was interviewed by Southbohemian TV (Jihočeská televize) and Mobility Flows of Researchers in the Context of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions. I also propsed grant applications in GACR-2022 and ERC-starting (score B): 2022 – 2023 Czech governmental subsidy for ERC-starting excellence (€ 2,000).

I implemented the project FIREMAN aiming at my personal career development including solving the questions, networking and exploitation, following the work packages (WPs) with slight changes if necessary.
WP 1: Training and project management
I have taught a course at Charles University that covers aspects related to soil microorganisms and their practical implications. I have also contacted the secondment (Dr. Michael Bonkowski at University of Cologne). WP1 (Task 1.3): with changes of putting the project onto Tweeter, I build up one website (www.daquansun.com) for its public access. WP1 (Task 1.4): I have attended project management and communication training in department of business administration of Biology Centre CAS as planned.
WP 2: Protection role of pyrogenic carbon on CBMs
For WP2 (Task 2.1) we used two pairs of contrasting soil samples, each from two areas where soil and vegetation were well characterized by our previous studies: primary succession on post-mining sites near Sokolov, Czech Republic, and secondary succession on restored meadows in the White Carpathians, Czech Republic.
For WP2 (Task 2.2-2.4) the plant residue derived PyChar was obtained from KARBOTECH biogas plants according to the standardized procedures.
WP 3: CBMs compositions and their functions to responsive plant species
For Task 3.1 two herbs (Centaurea jacea and Plantago lanceolata) and one grass (Festuca rubra) are common plant species in the restored meadows, but the other two herbs (Filipendula vulgaris and Prunella grandiflora) and one grass (Phleum phleoides) are common plant species in the ancient meadows. Paired-end Raw sequences in fastq format were processed using QIIME2 (Task 3.3). The results (Task 3.5) were presented in conferences at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly (EGU) on 25 May 2022 (Virtual EGU22-2442), and at Ecology of Soil Microorganisms on 19-23 June 2022 (Prague, Czech Republic).
WP 4: Dissemination, communication and exploitation
I have given a talk at SOWA about the story of my successful grant application. Results (Task 4.3) were also posted on my personal website (www.daquansun.com). About the bio-waste management and pyrolysis, I was interviewed by Southbohemian TV (Jihočeská televize) and Mobility Flows of Researchers in the Context of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

My research gives new in-depth mechanisms about the role of functional microbial community modulating plant-soil feedbacks. This provides potential for land restoration such as post-mining sites. My collaborators such as some in Canada were interested in using the technique of pyrolysis for reuse of waste-water.

Interviewed by Southbohemian TV (Jihočeská televize)

five minutes scientific talk