PS 47-218 - The Deep Soil Ecotron: A Facility for All Ecologists

Abstract: The Deep Soil Ecotron: A Facility for All Ecologists





The Deep Soil Ecotron (DSE) will enable investigators to simultaneously manipulate both abiotic and biotic factors (e.g., climate, GHG concentrations, plant community, soil type) of subsurface soils (up to 3m in depth) to understand their impact on whole ecosystem processes and the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum. This facility will lay the foundation for the next two decades of cutting-edge research on soils, ecology, and biogeochemistry. A key challenge to building this facility is making the platform and its data accessible to a community with multiple interests: science, industry, education, and the arts. The avenues for participation and feedback will be presented. We will describe upcoming workshops on research participation, sensor development, modeling, and data accessibility. Opportunities to learn about the broader impacts concerning training of future project managers of mid-scale projects will be also be posted. The project schedule will be shared highlighting important dates when ecologists can join the endeavor of building the DSE.

Diagrams of the 24 ecounits and instrumentation will be presented. Each Ecounit is equipped to control a suite of environmental conditions, such as light, air flow, soil and atmospheric temperature, and precipitation. Light is controlled via four LED lamps per EcoUnit. These lamps has four wavelength channels that can mimic variation in the light spectrum observed throughout a day. Precipitation is controlled via four irrigation nozzles per EcoUnit, allowing for control over the frequency and intensity of rainfall events. Cameras are equipped in each aboveground unit of the EcoUnit allowing remote viewing for users and DSE personnel. The EcoUnits are designed for a high degree of soil temperature control allowing for mimicking a natural soil temperature gradient or enabling users to spatially and temporally control the temperature profile. The EcoUnits are also gas impermeable and have the capacity to manipulate and monitor gases of interest. This allows users to manipulate GHGs (CO₂, CH₄, N₂O), other gases, such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and make additions of isotopically labeled gases.

The understanding and knowledge generated from the DSE will improve our understanding of biologic and physical connections across soil depth, providing deeper insight into how plant-soil interactions operate over long spatial scales and how different biota (including microbes and animals) interact to influence overall ecosystem processes. The DSE potential for learning about deep soil and ecosystem processes is great, but its success ultimately depends on user access and input.