Soils
Principal Investigator:
Dr. Sumanta Bagchi (Centre for Ecological Sciences)
Co-Investigators:
Dr. Advait Edgaonkar (Indian Institute of Forest Management)
Dr. Ankila J. Hiremath (Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment)
Dr. Ashalata Devi (Tezpur University)
Dr. Bhupendra S. Adhikari (Wildlife Institute of India)
Dr. Deepak Barua (Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research)
Dr. Jayanti Ray-Mukherjee (Azim Premji University)
Dr. Md. Latif Khan (Harisingh Gour Central University)
Dr. Mahesh Sankaran (National Centre for Biological Sciences)
Dr. Pramod Jha (Indian Institute of Soil Science)
Dr. Rajkumar Yadav (Gujarat Ecological Education and Research Foundation)
Dr. Raman Sukumar (Centre for Ecological Sciences)
Dr. Sumit Dookia (Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University)
Dr. Sureshkumar Singh (North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology)
Material and energy flow through ecosystems are broadly controlled by biological and geological properties of soil, and these are fundamental to the functioning of all terrestrial ecosystems. Soil processes are a major source of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide.
To cover a wide range of environmental conditions such as soil type, regional climate, and land use across different habitats, a portable gas analyzer will be used in each site to assess the rate of emissions of CO2, CH4, and N2O from soils. This will be crucial in interpreting how vegetation responses alter soils and associated feedback with ecosystem structure and functions. Soil moisture probes will be installed to record changes in soil water content over time, and soil cores will be collected for laboratory analysis of physical properties (e.g., soil texture) and chemical properties (e.g., carbon: nitrogen ratio).
Plant carbon and nutrient pools will be estimated based on chemical analyses of plant tissue, and their fluxes determined by combining these with plant production estimated using allometric equations from tree growth data. Soil carbon fluxes will be determined by quantifying soil respiration rates, while soil nutrient fluxes will be evaluated based on estimating monthly mineralization rates using open-top mineralization tubes.