Project description
Harnessing soil bacteria to combat water loss
Bacteria abound in soil and are essential for sustaining global geocycles and promoting plant growth. Their abundance and activity could impact water transport in soil. Particularly water loss through evaporative drying, returning one fifth of all water deposited on land to the atmosphere, depends on the stability of microscopic air-water interfaces, which bacteria could impact. Despite advances in bioaugmentation (optimising microbial communities to enhance soil function), there is a poor understanding of bacterial impact on the physics of soil. Addressing this knowledge gap, the ERC-funded BACTODRY project will explore how bacteria influence air-water interfaces in drying soil. Specifically, it will investigate bacterial control over macro-scale drying and develop strategies to bioaugment soils, ultimately enhancing water retention in agricultural fields.
Objective
Bacteria abound in the soil, contributing to major global geocycles and plant growth. Bioaugmentation, the stimulation or tuning of this natural microbiome to optimize its function for human gain, has recently been used with success to manipulate biological interactions. However, we lack the understanding of the impact of bacteria on the physics of soil that would be necessary to direct bioaugmentation toward abiotic goals such as limiting water loss to drying – one fifth of all water deposited on land is rapidly lost back to the atmosphere by this process. Using novel experimental and theoretical approaches, BACTODRY will bring bioaugmentation for reduced drying toward feasibility by harnessing the control bacteria exert on macroscale drying via alteration of the physico-chemistry of the numerous microscopic air–water interfaces in a drying porous soil. We will develop microfluidic devices capturing features of air–water interfaces at the scale of one to a few pores while giving unprecedented access to bacterial and interfacial dynamics at the microscale (WP1–2), and use them to gain quantitative insight into the bio-physico-chemical couplings that set fluid flows and evaporative rate. How these microscale relations upscale will be tested in granular column experiments, shedding light on interface dynamics in complex 3D structures (WP3). We will then develop an in situ selective chip for isolating natural bacteria that impact drying (WP4). Building on the insights gained in WP1–4, we will demonstrate how soil can be bioaugmented with bacteria selected from the environment to achieve reduced evaporative drying in the field (WP5). BACTODRY’s novel methods and insights will have far-reaching impacts on our understanding of natural surface-active molecules, the study of microbial life in unsaturated soil and its impact on natural cycles, and the development of novel bioaugmentation tools grounded in the biophysical coupling between microbial life and abiotic phase.
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.
This project's classification has been validated by the project's team.
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.
This project's classification has been validated by the project's team.
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-2024-STG
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.
35042 RENNES
France
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.