From the start of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie project ALSORES in September 2022 through its conclusion in August 2025, the research focused on understanding how microbial and invertebrate communities shape soil respiration (SR) in Alpine environments, particularly under the influence of climate change, elevation, and land use. The work was structured around two major experimental approaches: a controlled laboratory incubation and a comprehensive field campaign.
Parallel to this, the field campaign involved monitoring of SR and SRH across six Alpine and montane pastures over the course of a growing season. Molecular analyses of soil samples revealed that calculating the gene-specific respiration rate (GSRR) by normalizing SRH by the gen-copy based quantity of soil microbes could serve as a proxy for soil microbiome carbon use efficiency and is positively correlated to the soils temperature sensitivity (Q10). In such, it offers a simplified alternative to traditional multi-season measurements. These findings contribute to the state of the art by integrating molecular and physiological indicators into a conceptual framework for classifying microbial communities along gradients of stress and activity.
The incubation experiment simulated drought, rewetting, legacy, and heat phases using montane grassland soils, incorporating treatments with and without soil fauna and glucose amendments. This design enabled the identification of microbial physiological responses to stress and carbon availability, leading to a further testing of GSRR as a proxy for microbial carbon use efficiency ain combination with the communities exDNA:iDNA ratio, which proved effective in assessing microbial physiological states.
Throughout the project, extensive training and interdisciplinary collaboration were pursued, including secondments, workshops, and advanced statistical courses. Dissemination efforts were multifaceted: results were presented at major international conferences such as the Global Soil Biodiversity Conference, the World Biodiversity Forum, and the International Mountain Conference in form of posters and talks. Outreach activities included public engagement events including Interviews with the local newspaper, expert discussion at an academic cinema event, testimonial at the Marie Curie Week organized by the beneficiary, as well as a hands-on eDNA workshop for ecologists. Scientific publications are being submitted to high-impact journals, and raw sequence- as well as metadata were deposited in open-access repositories in line with Horizon 2020 Open Research Data guidelines. These efforts ensured that the project’s findings reached both scientific and public audiences, laying the groundwork for future applications in climate modeling, soil health assessment, and policy development.
