Soil Acidification in Southern China: Spatio-temporal Evolution and Effects on Phosphorus Availability
Friday June 30th at 9:30 (aud. GP), Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, Belgium
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
Annual excursion 2017
The Orneau : a fertile valley for soil research
May 23rd, 2017 / 9:00 – 18:00
Programme and photos
48 participants.
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.
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
Registration: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1K9fgOnEOfn-26h9207r-tFjK311sgtccUaeA0_627gs/viewform?usp=send_form
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
Young Soil Scientists days 2014
Every year the Soil Science Society of Belgium is organizing a Day for the Young Soil Scientists.
The idea is that young soil scientists from Belgium get to know each other, learn about new research initiatives undertaken by the different research groups, both in Belgium and abroad.
Last year we have developed a new concept for the Young Scientists Day so as to accommodate many more participants and hence make the meeting more attractive for all.
Venue: Royal Academy, Hertogstraat 1, Brussels
Date: 26/02/2014 from 13:30 – 17:30
Date: 26/02/2014 from 13:30 – 17:30
All research groups are invited to send abstracts for ONE oral presentation and as many as possible posters.
The scientific programme
- A limited number of oral presentations: one presentation per research group
(15 min. presentation + 5 min. discussion each) - A session of synthetic poster presentations; there is no limit to the number of poster presentations!
(3 min. each = 2 slides each)
Also this year’s M.Sc. thesis students are warmly encouraged to make a poster on their actual thesis work, with special attention to the research question they are trying to answer and the methods of their research. The results may be subject of a paper during the Young Scientists day Anno 2015! - Poster session with drinks served.
Subscriptions and abstracts
Subscription for this event is possible until Friday January 31, 2014 by filling out the online registration form.
The submission of abstracts will expire at February 9th, 2014.
Please send your title and abstract in English in time to Giles Colinet (Gilles.Colinet@ulg.ac.be). Don’t forget to mention the co-authors and their affiliations.
Looking forward to an overwhelming response, especially from our new generation soil scientists, we send you our best wishes.
Yours sincerely,
Martine Swerts, President SSSB
Gilles Colinet, Secretary-Treasurer SSSB