Please note that this session was withdrawn and is no longer available in the respective programme. This withdrawal might have been the result of a merge with another session.
SSS8.5 | Soil-Spontaneous Flora Interactions: Challenges and Opportunities in a Changing Climate
EDI
Soil-Spontaneous Flora Interactions: Challenges and Opportunities in a Changing Climate
Convener: Nebojša NikolićECSECS | Co-conveners: Roberta Masin, Alfredo ManicardiECSECS, Nafissa SoudaniECSECS
The presence of spontaneously occurring flora, including weeds and invasive plants, poses challenges in agriculture, landscaping, architecture, and forestry. They compete with crops, hinder harvesting, produce harmful toxins, and reduce aesthetics. Understanding soil's role in sustaining both cultivated and spontaneous plants is vital for sustainable land management, especially with climate change.
Soil is a complex ecosystem with different microorganism and animals that affect plant metabolism. The soil microbiome nurtures plant roots, provides nutrients, and helps adapt to changing environments. Climate change, with rising temperatures and altered precipitation, may impact soil dynamics and spontaneous plant growth. Furthermore, significant progress has been made in developing advanced tools for soil management and weed control. Integrating these innovations into our understanding of soil-plant interactions can improve agricultural sustainability. This session aims to unite scientists from various fields, such as soil science, plant biology, ecology, agriculture, forestry, landscaping, and climate science, to share knowledge and enhance our grasp of soil-flora interactions and innovative soil management techniques.
Topics of interest for this session include:

Soil-Plant Interaction: Exploring the intricate relationships between soil properties and spontaneous flora, with a focus on weeds and invasive species.
Seed Bank Dynamics: Understanding the fate and behavior of seeds in the soil, considering processes such as seed dispersion, predation, burial, degradation, dormancy, germination, and seedling emergence.
Climate Change Impacts: Investigating how changing climate influences seed bank composition, persistence, and mutation in both natural and human-disturbed ecosystems.
Innovative Instruments for Soil Management: Showcasing the latest technologies and approaches for soil enhancement, nutrient management, and weed control.
Seed-Microbe Interactions: Exploring the role of microbial activity in the degradation and persistence of seeds in different soil types.
Modeling Seed Fate: Developing models to predict seed fate and behavior under various environmental conditions.

This session is open to all researchers interested in weed and invasive plant science, seed ecology, soil science, climate change impacts, and innovative approaches to soil management. We especially encourage early stage researchers to share their novel discoveries.