BIOCHARCOLOGY
Biochar, Agro-ecology and Regenerative Agriculture Team
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The BIOCHARCOLOGY team focuses on improving soil health with biochar as the basis for improving ecosystem services, i.e. regenerative agriculture. Our aim is researching ecosystem service trade-offs for realistic, sustainable, field-based adaptations to climate change.
Team member Frank Verheijen explains what biochar is, what it can and cannot do, and what is needed for widespread biochar application to soils.
The first minute is in Portuguese, but the rest is all in English.
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The BIOCHARCOLOGY team has been awarded a new project: SOILSPONGE
The SOILSPONGE project breaks new ground by studying the effects of biochar on total soil water storage (sponge function) at the slope scale and 2 modelling scales (catchment, water scarcity footprint).
SOILSPONGE is an interdisciplinary collaboration combining researchers in soil structure, moisture and organic matter dynamics, environmental biology, chemistry, spatiotemporal modelling, life cycle analysis and C footprints within CESAM, as well as vital consultants from Harper-Adams University (HAU, UK), civil engineering from the University of Aveiro, and the award-winning Portuguese company Terraprima.
Our core activities
Water
Water
Improving the soil sponge function by increasing infiltration and the maximum water-holding capacity of the soil. We have designed and installed 18 box lysimeters on campus - integrated in a meteo station - where we can monitor run-off, erosion, leachate, vegetation, etc.
Carbon
Carbon
We have installed biochar and control plots in a sown biodiverse pasture managed by Terraprima. We monitor soil organic carbon fractions, CO2, N2O, CH4, above and belowground vegetation, enzymes, etc. to model the true C-sequestration potential of biochar in this system.
Ecology
Ecology
Integrated into the field and lysimeter scale - and the pot scale in our climate-controlled lab - we study how biochar can improve the habitat function for pollinators. Does softer soil allow better ground-nesting conditions? Do flowers provide better attraction and nectar?
Biocharcology team members have been actively involved in biochar research since 2009, with >40 biochar publications in international, peer-reviewed journals, 5 book chapters, and various popular media items. In all sciences, the team has an h-index of 46, >200 publications, which have been cited >15,000 times. Visit our Googlescholar profile for details.
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