PhD thesis defense Lili GAO

“Effects of long-term conservation tillage on soil structure and soil organic carbon dynamics in Loess Plateau of China”

26/06/2017 1:00 Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, Topo I

Laudatio Prof. D’Hoore

Ik spreek hier als bodemkundig kleinkind van Prof. D’Hoore, want ik heb niet alleen het geluk gehad zijn boeiende colleges te mogen volgen, de laatste 20 jaar heb ik het vaandel van ‘Bodemgeografie van de wereld’ mogen dragen aan de Faculteit Bio-ingenieurswetenschappen aan de KU Leuven.

Ik was altijd bijzonder geïnspireerd door de lessen van Jules D’Hoore, en het is mede door zijn aanstekelijk enthousiasme dat ik onmiddellijk na mijn studies naar Afrika vertrokken ben om er bodemonderzoek te gaan doen in projecten van de FAO ( de Wereldvoedsel organisatie van de Verenigde Naties). In Afrika heb ik dan ook de context leren appreciëren van het gigantische levenswerk van Jules, de ‘Bodemkaart van Afrika’. Omwille van de politieke omwentelingen in Congo in de jaren zestig is er helaas veel van het bodem archief verloren gegaan op het Ineac (Institut national pour l’étude agronomique du Congo Belge), de werkplek van Jules D’Hoore. Dank zij zijn bijzondere veerkracht en zijn grondige dossierkennis is hij er toch in geslaagd zijn bodemkaart, de eerste algehele bodemkaart van Afrika, af te werken. Ik kan ervan getuigen dat deze bodemkaart een belangrijke mijlpaal is geweest in de Bodemkunde, die ook vandaag en nog overal in de wereld, maar in het bijzonder in Afrika bijzonder geapprecieerd wordt. De legende ervan werd door vele collega’s zelfs gebruikt als bodemclassificatiesysteem bij de bodemkartering.

Het is dus niet te verwonderen dat, toen we einde 2015 het internationaal Jaar van de Bodem afsloten met de tentoonstelling ‘Africa in Profile’ tentoonstelling, de bodemkaart van Afrika van Jules D’Hoore centraal en in de kijker stond. Ik heb toen Prof. D’Hoore zelf mogen rondleiden doorheen de ‘Africa in Profile’ tentoonstelling, en toen we aan het hoofdstuk Plinthosols kwamen, keerden onze rollen terug om. Jules vertelde als bevlogen Prof zijn verhaal van de niet vergevende ijzerhoudende bodems (Plinthosols) van Afrika en ik voelde terug de kleine student van vroeger…

Graag wil ik terloops vermelden dat deze tentoonstelling over de bodems van Afrika nu ook virtueel kan bezocht worden via de website van het Departement Aard en Omgevingswetenschappen van de KU Leuven door er “Virtual tour through the ‘Africa in Profile’ exhibition” aan te klikken.

Seppe Deckers

Prof. D'Hoore

PhD defense Brieuc Hardy

Pre-industrial charcoal kiln sites in Wallonia, Belgium: spatial distribution, effects on soil properties and long-term fate of charcoal in soil
March 17th, 2017 / 15:00 Auditoire SUD 18, Louvain-la-Neuve

Latest publication: Long term change in chemical properties of preindustrial charcoal particles aged in forest and agricultural temperate soil (Organic Geochemistry 107)

SSSB Thematic Day – 30 November 2016

Thematic day 2016 “Soil processes and biogeochemical cycling of  elements”

Wednesday 30 November 2016

Dear soil scientists,
We are pleased to inform you about the SSSB thematic day 2016 programme.
Venue: The Royal Academies for Science and the Arts of Belgium (Rubens room and lobby), Hertogsstraat 1 Rue Ducale,  B-1000 BRUSSELS

PROGRAMME

Scientific programme

13.15 – 13.45 : Registration and welcome coffee
13.45 – 13.50 : Opening welcome
13.50 – 14.20 : Keynote presentation ‘Soil processes and cycling of elements in soil-plant systems’ by B. Delvaux (UCL)
14.20 – 14.40 : ‘Is soil pore structure control on substrate decomposition manifested through N availability?’ by P. Maenhout (UGent)
14.40 – 15.05 : Invited talk ‘Effects of erosion and land use change
on the reactive silica pool’ by D. Unzué-Belmonte (UAntwerp)
15.05 – 15.25 : ‘Phytolith-rich biochar increases cotton biomass and silicon-mineralomass in a highly weathered soil’ by Z. Li (UCL)
15.25 – 16.00 : coffee break and poster presentation
16.30 – 16.55 : Invited talk ‘Historical charcoal in soils : effect on carbon sequestration’ by B. Kerré (KUL)
16.55 – 17.15 : ‘Relic charcoal hearths : a neglected important soil carbon reservoir of italian forests’ by G. Mastrolonardo (ULg)
17.15 – 17.40 : Invited talk ‘Multi-scale assessment of soil organic carbon dynamics : insights from carbon fractionation’ by S. Trigalet (UCL)
17.45 -… : Concluding remarks

Summary of the thematic day:

The sustainable management of element cycling, either nutrients or contaminants, in soil-plant systems requires the understanding of soil processes that govern the interactions between soil constituents, soil properties and functions. Soil processes strongly affect the rate of element cycling in terrestrial ecosystems but also the mineral and organic origin of the bioavailable pools of the elements. The management of agro-ecosystems is in a transition stage, given the challenge of producing more biomass while increasing the resistance and resilience of  food systems. A process-based approach of the evolution of soil in a constantly varying environment is crucial in a further understanding of  how soils can sustain the ecological equilibrium of agro-ecosystems.
Everybody is welcome and participation is free!
Looking forward to meeting you in Brussels.
Bruno Delvaux (UCL) & Jean-Thomas Cornélis (ULg)

Programme Thematic Day ’14

Soil-plant interactions in a changing world

DATE: Friday December 5th, 2014 (9:00 – 12:30)
VENUE: The Royal Academies for Science and the Arts of Belgium (Rubenszaal), Hertogsstraat 1 Rue Ducale, Brussels
REGISTRATION: see below or follow this link

» Download the book of abstracts here!

Soil, plants and chemistry

09:00-09:20 ‘Capacity of microorganisms to decompose organic carbon affected by an increasing content of reactive mineral phases in a podzolic soil chronosequence.’ Vermeire et al. (UCL)

09:20-09:40 ‘Calibration of δD n-alkane as paleo-climate proxy in the DeepCHALLA archive.’ De Wispelaere et al. (UGent)

09:40-10:00 ‘Effects of different types of fertilizers on phosphorus availability in a soil with low P content.’ Barbieux et al. (ULg)

 Coffee break (30 min) + poster session

 Soils and plant roots

10:30-10:45 ‘Can root distribution be related to soil water potential in an irrigated ‘Conference’ pear orchard?’ Janssens et al. (Soil Service of Belgium)

10:45-11:00 ‘A review of the effects of plant roots on concentrated flow erosion.’ Vannoppen et al. (KULeuven)

11:00-11:15 ‘Can electrical resistivity tomography offer us a dynamic view on what happens in the soil-plant continuum?’ Garré et al. (ULg)

11:15-11:30 ‘Differential hydrological strategies: a stable isotope perspective on trees water sources.’ Hervé-Fernández et al. (UGent)

11:30-11:45 ‘Improving macroscopic modelling of water and osmotic stresses on root water uptake.’ Jorda Guerra et al. (KULeuven)
11:45-12:15 Invited talk: ‘Water relations in the soil-plant system: what can we learn from functional-structural plant models.’ Lobet et al. (ULg)

Extra poster contributions still possible. (Poster guidelines: max A0, portrait)
Deadline 01/12/2014
In the framework of the international year of soils (IYS), poster contributions announcing activities for the IYS are encouraged next to the regular research posters.

2015 International year of soils

SSSB Thematic day 2014: Plant-soil interactions in a changing world

The uptake of water and nutrients by plants from the soil are key processes controlling mass and energy fluxes within the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum. Small-scale interactions at the soil-plant interface may have global scale and long-term effects on water, carbon, nitrogen and energy balances. Understanding these interactions, their effect on rooting behavior and on soil characteristics, and clarifying their manifestation at ecosystem scale is critical for predicting impacts of global change and climate variability on carbon, nutrient and hydrologic cycles. For the SSSB thematic day, we solicit investigations unraveling parts of this fascinating interplay between plants and soils. 

The SSSB thematic day is organized on the World Soil Day, a day to celebrate the importance of soil as a critical component of the natural system and as a v

ital contributor to human wellbeing.

Date: December 5th, 2014

Location: The Royal Academies for Science and the Arts of Belgium (Rubenszaal), Hertogsstraat 1 Rue Ducale,  B-1000 BRUSSELS

Registrationhttps://docs.google.com/forms/d/1K9fgOnEOfn-26h9207r-tFjK311sgtccUaeA0_627gs/viewform?usp=send_form

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Two-day excursion to the International Soil Reference and Information Centre and to the periglacial soilscapes around Wageningen | June 2-3, 2014

Dear all,

Hereby I am happy to announce the 2014 excursion of the Soil Science Society of Belgium:

Two-day excursion to the International Soil Reference and Information Centre and to the periglacial soilscapes around Wageningen

June 2-3, 2014 

Kindly find the invitation and registration form attached to this email. Please register before MAY 5 if you want to join.

Best regards,

Karen Vancampenhout

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