Objective
In order to maximise the potential for habitat restoration initiatives to mitigate our grandest environmental challenges, we urgently need to understand how differing approaches to forest creation affect the recovery of belowground foodwebs and the carbon cycling processes they underpin. This is a formidable challenge: we know startlingly little about how natural climate solutions, such as large-scale reforestation, influence biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in the soil, the place where most species on the planet live and where 75% of terrestrial carbon stocks are found. Meeting this challenge not only requires a step change in our understanding of the form and function of complex soil biotic networks and the factors that mediate their reassembly with reforestation, but it also requires new knowledge of the mechanisms that underpin the formation of stable soil carbon stocks. The overarching aim of the RECONNECT project is to address these gaps by building the first complete picture of how contrasting reforestation approaches mediate the whole ecosystem movement of carbon from assimilation to stabilisation in the soil via differences in the reassembly of belowground biotic networks. To achieve this, I will use a unique and powerful combination of landscape scale field experiments, state-of-the-art molecular tools, isotopic tracing and cutting-edge biogeochemistry, to: (i) develop our mechanistic understanding of how contrasting woodland creation approaches (planting versus natural colonisation of trees) impact the flow, stabilisation and storage of carbon in forest soils, and (ii) determine how differing routes to forest creation influence the reassembly and functioning of interconnected mycorrhizal networks. In doing so, I will make major breakthroughs in our understanding of the functioning of terrestrial systems and provide a much-needed evidence-base to inform he way we reforest millions of hectares of the Earth’s surface.
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.
- engineering and technology environmental engineering ecosystem-based management ecological restoration
- natural sciences physical sciences astronomy planetary sciences planets
- natural sciences biological sciences ecology ecosystems
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences geochemistry biogeochemistry
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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.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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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
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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-2025-STG
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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.
BS8 1QU BRISTOL
United Kingdom
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.