Tracking the biological control on Si mobilisation in upland ecosystems.

It is well known that anthropogenic land use changes have strongly influenced the occurrence of biota and soil formation over the last millennia. Land use changes can have a strong effect on the export of carbon, nitrogen and weathering products. The poor knowledge of the biological component in silica biogeochemistry challenges our ability to predict the effects of these land use changes on the silicacycle. Current models for silica export to the ocean still consider it constant. This assumption is now recognized to be invalid, yet our knowledge base is too small to correctly assess human induced variation in diatom productivity and burial rate. This project aims to contribute to filling this fundamental knowledge gap. We want to advance knowledge on how the silica cycle is affected by human activity in a temperateriver basin through a detailed, integrated analysis of silica pools, pathways, fluxes and transformations, thereby using advanced analysis techniques. In this context, the Scheldt basin is extra interesting, as it has high DSi concentrations compared to other systems worldwide, and this is potentially related to high human influence.

Keywords:HYDROBIOLOGY, ECOSYSTEMS, BIOLOGICAL EVALUATION

Disciplines:Geology, Plant biology, Aquatic sciences, challenges and pollution

Project type:Collaboration project