Program
Day 1 - Thursday, 14 april 2016
08.30 – 09.00
Welcome, introduction and opening remarks
Dani Or, ETH Zürich, and Thomas Keller, Agroscope Zürich, Switzerland
Session 1: Metrics for soil structure, agro-ecological functions and recovery
Chair: Dani Or, ETH Zürich, Switzerland
09.00 – 09.20
Soil structure, ecosystem services and resilience
Johan Six, ETH Zürich, Switzerland
09.20 – 09.40
Soil structure and transport functions
Shmuel Assouline, Volcani Center, Israel
09.40 – 10.00
Soil structure effects on microbial distribution and function
Naoise Nunan, Insitute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, France
10.00 – 11.00
Discussion/coffee: New protocols and metrics for soil structure, structure-ecological stresses and recovery
Session 2: Abiotic processes: freeze-thaw and wetting-drying, soil management (tillage, compaction)
Chair: Thomas Keller, Agroscope, Switzerland
11.00 – 11.20
The physics of freezing and thawing – links to soil structure
Alan Rempel, University of Oregon, USA
11.20 – 11.40
Soil management induced changes of soil pore architecture
Stephan Peth, University of Kassel, Germany
11.40 – 12.00
Mechanisms of aggregate formation
Teamrat Ghezzehei, UC Merced, USA
12.00 – 12.20
Shrink-swell phenomena and crack formation
Pascal Boivin, Hepia, Switzerland
12.20 – 13.30
Discussion/lunch: Abiotic processes and soil structure generation, maintenance and recovery
Session 3: Soil structure observatories and how to monitor soil structure dynamics
Chair: Markus Berli, Desert Research Institute, USA
13.30 – 14.00
The Soil structure observatory (SSO) Zurich
Thomas Keller, Agroscope, Switzerland
14.00 – 15.00
Field visit and discussion
Session 4: Poster session
Chair: TBD
15.00 – 16.00
Posters and coffee: SSO, imaging, root mechanics, etc
Session 5: Root-soil interactions
Chair: Paul Hallett, Aberdeen University, U.K
16.00 – 16.20
Root-soil interactions and physical stresses
Glyn Bengough, The James Hutton Institute, U.K.
16.20 – 16.40
Root-soil interactions: new experimental and modelling techniques
Lionel Dupuy, The James Hutton Institute, U.K.
16.40 – 17.00
Visualization of soil structure, roots, and biophysical interactions
Sascha Mooney, Nottingham University, U.K.
17.00 – 17.20
Root soil modelling
Keith Daly, Southampton University, U.K.
17.20 – 18.30
Discussion: Managing soil structure with plants
19:30
Diner in Zürich
Day 2 - Friday, 15 april 2016
Session 6: Fauna-soil interactions, with focus on earthworms as the key bioengineers in temperate regions
Chair: Stan Schymanski, ETH Zürich, Switzerland
09.00 – 09.00
Earthworms and soil ecology
Peter Groffman, Cary Institute, USA
09.20 – 09.40
The role of earthworms in soil structure dynamics
Yvan Capowiez, INRA, France
09.40 – 10.00
Mammal and macro-invertebrate contributions to soil structure
Anita Risch, WSL, Switzerland
10.00 – 11.00
Discussion/coffee: The soil ecological machine
Session 7: Integrating biophysical interactions towards biophysical framework for soil structure dynamics
Chair: Johan Six, ETH Zürich, Switzerland
11.00 – 11.20
Combining soil science with approaches from other disciplines
Paul Hallett, Aberdeen University, U.K.
11.20 – 11.40
Soil life, soil health and soil structure maintenance
Karl Ritz, Nottingham Unviersity, U.K.
11.40 – 12.00
The soil biophysical feedback cycle: concepts and modelling approaches
John Crawford, Rothamsted Research, U.K.
12.00 – 13.00
Discussion/lunch: Self-organization in soil, biophysical processes across scales
Session 8: Coordination of research efforts
13.00 – 16.00
Group discussion (coffee around 15.00):
Pending issues (incomplete themes)
Monograph on The role of biophysical processes in soil structure dynamics
International expansion of soil structure observatories to other places
Consortium for an international project (e.g. Horizon 2020)
Organization and coordination of sessions at international conferences
16.00
Closing and Adjourn
Evening
Dinner for participants remaining in Zurich