CANETE

CANETE will evaluate and predict how microbes physiologically respond to agricultural and forestry management practices across different pedoclimatic contexts. It will also examine the consequences of these responses for the coupling and decoupling of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycles, especially in relation to soil carbon and nutrient storage, the supply of nutrients to plants, and crop production.

The project will focus on terrestrial ecosystems that have experienced multiple years of contrasting management regimes, including annual cropping systems, temporary grasslands, agroforestry systems, and forests. Specific attention will be paid to practices that could alter or enhance the coupling of biogeochemical cycles.

CANETE will help determine how soil microbial communities could be used to make carbon and nitrogen usage more efficient in terrestrial ecosystems. The project will yield open-access data, model formalisms for simulating key microbial mechanisms, and enhanced decision-making tools for predicting carbon and nitrogen stocks. It will also provide criteria for evaluating ecosystem services to inform decisions around trade-offs among carbon storage, plant nutrition, and greenhouse gas emissions across a wide range of terrestrial ecosystems.

CANETE is bringing together researchers from 15 laboratories and will use 9 long-term experimental sites. Its work is organised along 4 axes and combines experimentation with modelling.

Coordinator: Gwenaëlle Lashermes, INRAE

Funding: €1,488,002 for 60 months