ABOUT
The Environment and Climate (ECL) Theme aims to expand our knowledge of complex environmental processes related to ecosystem functioning, global change, and anthropogenic activities by making use of neutron and X-ray techniques at advanced large-scale facilities.
More specifically, the fellows within the theme seek to advance the development of novel methodologies and expand the use of neutron and X-ray scattering techniques in environmental sciences, facilitate new collaborations between experienced users and new users of large-scale facilities, and promote the use of green technologies in industrial and biotechnological applications. The working groups within the theme will work on different aspects of environment and climate research, and include international research leaders from diverse fields.
HAPPENING IN THEME
CORE GROUP
INTERNATIONAL ADVISING COMMITTEE
GUEST RESEARCHERS
WORKING GROUPS FOR ECL
ECL WorkING Group 1
environmental archives
Within this working group we will utilize historical and geological environmental records. These records can be gained from various sources such as microfossils from aquatic sediments, tree-ring data, peat - and ice cores etc. Detailing the past environment gives us the possibility to put the present and future environmental and climate change into a larger context and to better understand involved processes. Over the last decade there has been an increase in applications of high-resolution microanalytical techniques and many of them are synchrotron-based X-ray methods, which, in particular, give us the possibility to study the geochemical composition (incl. geochemical speciation) and morphology of our samples with nanoscale resolution. We welcome contributions on all timescales, and we will work towards increasing the number of users within the geoscience community and in tandem with the other WGs.
ecl WORKING GROUP 2
human impact and pollution
Anthropogenic pollution is a threat to the functioning of ecosystems as well as human health. Proper mitigation requires an understanding of the underlying physical, chemical, and biological processes behind the harm. WG 2 will explore and develop the usefulness of synchrotron and other large-scale physical characterisation infrastructures to better understand the impacts of pollution. Aerosol particles, which cause the lion’s share of environmentally induced deaths, and are the most uncertain component in current climate models, will be a special focus. Additional foci include heavy metals embedded into the redox-systems of their microenvironments and biotic interactions including root uptake and ion selection, micro/nanoplastics and their physical and chemical interactions with soils and sediments, and the secondary use of waste/industrial side-streams.
ecl WORKING GROUP 3
nutrient cycles and land-water interactions
Organic matter in terrestrial and aquatic systems represents a chemically broad group of molecules ranging in size from few nanometers up to few hundred micrometers. These molecules interact with each other and with inorganic molecules to form highly structured and complex entities e.g., intact cell walls, soil organic matter aggregates, and colloidal dissolved organic matter. Their persistence in time and their mobility are determined by abiotic factors, such as organic matter – mineral interactions, but also by microbial and invertebrate decomposition processes. The aims of the working group are to promote the use of synchrotron radiation X-ray and neutron-based methods to understand the effect that decomposition activities and microbial metabolism have on the structure of organic matter and subsequently in its mobilization and movement from terrestrial into aquatic ecosystems. Particularly, scattering and diffraction techniques (e.g., SAXS, WAXS, XANES) can help unravel structural dynamics in these systems. Three examples of such processes that the working group is interested in acquiring more knowledge about include: a) wood and litter decomposition that determine the chemical and structural nature of the remaining molecules b) interactions between organic matter and minerals that determines the mobility of important nutrients such as iron deeper into the soil horizon and c) processes that determine the fate of organic matter and pollutants as well as water quality in aquatic systems (e.g. brownification). Since the structural properties of molecules play important roles in their persistence over time and their mobility, this working group is tightly connected to WG4.
ecl WORKING GROUP 4
structures and environmental interfaces
The majority of the most important reactions and interactions in nature take place at interfaces. Contacting organic, inorganic, and biological components creates a complex, often heterogeneous and kinetic environment that mediates various biophysical and biochemical processes across biosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere. Understanding these processes and their role in, for instance, nutrient cycling, behaviour and effects of environmental pollutants, or redox reactions, requires systematic inquiry into the drivers and factors defining the formation, structure, and properties of those interfaces. The prerequisite, and a challenge for such studies, is the ability to address the relevant spatial and temporal scales at which the processes take place. State-of-the-art analytical techniques offered at large scale synchrotron facilities or neutron sources provide unprecedented capabilities for this purpose. For instance, the biogeochemical processes taking place in the rhizosphere – the interface between plant roots, microbes, and soil – play a vital role in terrestrial carbon and other nutrient cycles. They are responsible for sustaining plant growth for food, fuel, and fibre production, but also other ecosystem level functions. While synchrotron radiation- based X-ray tomography and neutron techniques provide insights into larger scale 3D structure and water fluxes in the rhizosphere, X-ray spectroscopy and imaging help unravel the microscale processes governed by soil microbes at the interfaces with plants, other microbes, and minerals. Together, these approaches provide whole rounded information about rhizosphere systems and their responses to environmental change, such as extreme climatic events (e.g., droughts vs. excessive precipitation) or changes in agricultural practices. Therefore, WG4 will work towards promoting their wider and complementary applications, by bringing together researchers interested in different rhizosphere processes taking place at different spatial and temporal scales. It will also build competence in the community via training activities and mentorship.
Environment and Climate Core Group leader, Coordinator of Working Group 3 – Nutrient cycles and land-water interactions, LINXS Fellow
Dimitrios Floudas, Associate Senior Lecturer at the Department of Biology, Lund University, Sweden.
Dr Floudas is an associate senior lecturer at the Department of Biology. His research focuses on the ability of filamentous fungi to decompose organic matter. His recent work includes the use of Raman micro spectroscopy and X-ray scattering in the degradation of cellulose by fungi and the use of NMR and X-ray scattering in the decomposition of dissolved organic matter by ectomycorrhizal and saprotrophic fungi and their impact on its colloidal properties. He is interested to further use X- ray and neutron scattering techniques to develop new protocols to visualize the structural and chemical transformations of organic matter ranging from intact materials such as plant cell walls to soil organic matter.