Research Area 1 "Landscape Functioning"

 

How do agricultural landscapes function?

The primary objective of this Research Area is an integrated understanding of the biogeochemical (C, N, Si) cycles in agricultural landscapes, including the interactions between land and atmosphere (e.g. trace gas fluxes and dust emissions) and their relevance for agricultural production. A major focus is on crop plants, microorganisms and soils as the major drivers of biogeochemical cycles in agricultural landscapes. In this context, lateral transport processes (soil erosion, dust, water) are of particular interest, as these contribute considerably to the formation of spatially differentiated biogeochemical process domains in agricultural landscapes and determine the local site conditions relevant for agricultural production.

This Research Area currently focusses on three core research questions:

• Which role do the long-term structures and processes of soil landscapes play in recent water and solute fluxes, biogeochemical cycles (C, N, Si), land-atmosphere interactions and agricultural productivity?
• How do both positive and negative interactions between crop plants and their microbiome influence agricultural productivity, C and nutrient dynamics, and land-atmosphere interactions?
• How can stable isotopes and radionuclides be used to quantify and spatially characterize C and N metabolic processes in soils and land-atmosphere interactions?

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The research topics of Research Area 1 are mainly linked to three UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG; UN 2015), which are also addressed in the German Sustainable Development Strategy (2016): Zero Hunger (SDG 2), Climate Action (SDG 13), and Life on Land (SDG 15).