Objective
Ensuring the quality of our soils is essential for a sustainable world. Testing the soil quality traditionally occurs by soil sampling, sieving and extraction, thereby disturbing the soil’s hierarchical pore size structure. Soil sieving and extraction disrupts the macro-aggregates and overestimates the accessible reactive surfaces of soil. Plant roots are exposed to only a fraction of these soil reactive surfaces, hence traditional soil tests for bioavailability underscore the physical non-equilibrium of nutrients and contaminants in soil. EXPOSOIL aims to identify the reactive pore space to which roots are exposed in undisturbed soil. The research objectives are to quantify the effects of soil structure and mobile colloids on bioavailability of nutrients and contaminants and to develop methods to understand and diagnose these effects. We speculate that these effects create local heterogeneities that are most important in soils with stronger aggregate structure, for contaminants or nutrients that are relatively immobile and less aged in soil and for elements strongly associated to mobile colloids. Experimental studies will be set up to test these hypotheses in soils with surface amended trace metal contaminants, fertilisers or lime, using isotopes to trace local provenances and using novel visualisation tools. Novel reactive membranes acting as zero sinks for solutes and colloids will be developed to mimic plant roots and to make 2D images of the locally available elements. That development is of high risk but high gain because no other method has yet assayed diffusive fluxes of solutes, let alone of colloids, in unsaturated and undisturbed soils. The new method will disclose the enigmatic roles of soil physical factors and colloids on bioavailability. This knowledge will advance the practical use of soil chemistry in environmental applications, e.g. to improve existing soil testing assays and to facilitate the development of novel, more efficient fertilisers.
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.
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
We are sorry... an unexpected error occurred during execution.
You need to be authenticated. Your session might have expired.
Thank you for your feedback. You will soon receive an email to confirm the submission. If you have selected to be notified about the reporting status, you will also be contacted when the reporting status will change.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
-
HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme
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.
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.
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.
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.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2021-ADG
See all projects funded under this callHost institution
Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
3000 LEUVEN
Belgium
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.