ECOFINDERS

ECOFINDERS
Titre :	Ecological Function and Biodiversity Indicators in European Soils
Budget :	9 963 k€
Subventions :	FP7-ENVIRONMENT (7 000 k€)
Sous-programme :	ENV.2010.2.1.4-4 Increasing the understanding of the role of soil biodiversity in ecosystem functioning
Type de contrat :	Large-scale integrating project
Début :	1er janvier 2011
Fin :	31 décembre 2014
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ECOFINDERS est l'acronyme du projet européen Ecological Function and Biodiversity Indicators in European Soils, qui a pour référence sur le service CORDIS 264465.

English description

Note : Les objectifs suivants sont repris de la fiche du projet sur Cordis

Objective

The strategic goal of EcoFINDERS is to provide the EC with tools to design and implement soil strategies aimed at ensuring sustainable use of soils, including: i) Characterisation of European soil biodiversity; ii) Determination of relations between soil biodiversity, soil functions and ecosystem services; iii) Design of policy-relevant and cost-effective indicators for monitoring soil biodiversity.

The project will: i) Develop and standardise tools and procedures to measure microbial and faunal diversity; ii) Describe the diversity of soil organisms (microbes and fauna), iii) Decipher the interactions among soil organisms and with plants through foodwebs and iv) Determine the role played by soil organisms in soils ecosystem services (nutrient cycling, carbon storage, water retention, soil structure regulation, resistance to pests and diseases, and regulation of above-ground diversity); iii) Establish cost-effective bioindicators for measuring sustainability of the microbial and faunal diversity and their associated functions (using a combination of metrics and meta-analysis); iv) Evaluate the economic value of ecosystem services, the added value of these bioindicators; v) Develop and implement effective communication strategies to engage the European public around issues associated with the sustainability of soil biodiversity.

The overall concept of the project is to develop and integrate the following activities: i) Decipher the links between soil biodiversity, activities, functioning and ecosystem services; ii) Combine three types of approach: observation, experimentation, and computation; iii) Assess the impact of environmental conditions; iv) Integrate information on microbes, fauna and plant communities and analyse how these compartments interact. The general hypotheses are: changes in soil biodiversity indicate the direction and rate of changes in soil functions and associated ecosystem services; application of cost-effective bioindicators brings an economic added value to sustainable soil management.

 

Les partenaires du projet

Coordinateur

• INRA Dijon - Dijon (Bourgogne, France)

Partenaires

• Universitaet zu Köln - Cologne (Rhénanie-du-Nord-Westphalie - Allemagne)
• The Chancellors, masters and scholars of the University of Cambridge - Cambridge (Royaume-Uni)
• Lunds Universitet - Lund (Suède)
• Prognosticky Ustav Slovenskej Akademie Vied - Braitslava (Slovénie)
• Aarhus Universitet - Aarhus (Danemark)
• Teagasc - Agriculture and food development authority - Carlow (Irlande)
• Wageningen Universiteit - Wageningen (Pays-Bas)
• Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen - Amsterdam (Pays-Bas)
• Universita degli studi di Torino - Turin (Italie)
• Stichting Dienst Landbouwkundig Onderzoek - Wageningen (Pays-Bas)
• ECT Oekotoxikologie GMBH - Floersheim-am-Main (Hesse - Allemagne)
• Joint Research Centre - European Commission - Bruxelles (Belgique)
• Univerza v Ljubljani - Ljubljana (Slovénie)
• China Agricultural University - Pékin (Chine)
• Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet - Uppsala (Suède)
• Instituto do Mar - Coimbra (Portugal)
• The University Court of the University of Aberdeen - Aberdeen (Royaume-Uni)
• University College Dublin - National University of Ireland - Dublin (Irlande)
• Natural Environment Research Council - Swindon Wiltshire (Royaume-Uni)
• Lancaster University - Lancaster (Royaume-Uni)
• INRA Transfert SA - Paris (Île-de-France - France)
• Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheiden Milieu - Bilthoven (Pays-Bas)

Sur le site du projet, la page de présentation des partenaires indique que deux autres centres INRA, en dehors de l'INRA Dijon, sont partenaires du projet :

• Interactions arbres/micro-organismes - INRA Nancy - Nancy (Lorraine, France)
• INRA Poitou-Charentes - Lusignan (Poitou-Charentes - France)

Financement

• Coût total du projet : 9 963 125 €
• Subvention de la Commission européenne (programme FP7-ENVIRONMENT) : 6 999 930 €

Dates importantes

• Date de début : 1^er janvier 2011
• Date de fin : 31 décembre 2014

Voir aussi

Liens externes

• Le site officiel du projet.