IREES colloquium: Influence of soil erosion on greenhouse gas emissions and carbon sequestration in a heterogeneous arable landscape |Shrijana Vaidya, guest PhD student

Title: Influence of soil erosion on greenhouse gas emissions and carbon sequestration in a heterogeneous arable landscape

Speaker: Shrijana Vaidya, PhD student of Leibniz center for agricultural landscape research

Abstract:  The topographical features, such as elevation and slope, contribute to the lateral distribution of soil through erosion in undulating croplands. During this process, varying degrees of erosion states are created, characterized by differences in soil’s physicochemical properties that affect not only soil fertility and crop productivity but also influence greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, research on the influence of erosion-induced soil differences while exploring C sequestration strategies or mitigate GHG emissions is limited although such information is crucial for adopting site-specific management decisions. Therefore, dealing with the topic of soil heterogeneity, I will provide insights about i) the influence of erosion states and nitrogen fertilization forms on nitrous oxide emission, ii) the evaluation and validation of a robotic chamber that was specifically designed to face the challenges of measuring GHG emission (exemplarily for carbon dioxide emission) in heterogeneous landscape and (iii) the benefit of such a system to evaluate the potential of carbon sequestration through management practices such as topsoil dilution by subsoil admixture and N-fertilization forms while accounting erosion states.