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The general theme of the "Ecohydrology of agrosystems" team concerns the study of interactions between the water cycle and ecosystems under anthropogenic forcing in cultivated landscapes.
The team covers a continuum of spatial scales ranging from infrastructure (e.g. plot, ditch, small reservoir) to landscape (or catchment), and focuses its research on the interactions between blue water, green water, and plant cover (cultivated and semi-natural stands) in highly man-shaped and cultivated environments with intermittant flows (headwater basins, Mediterranean to semi-arid climates). The cognitive goal of the team is to understand the components of the hydrological cycle in the agrosystem (surface-atmosphere, surface-soil-surface water exchanges and lateral surface flows) and their links with the spatial dynamics of plant cover, the latter being subject to four types of temporality : (1) seasonality, (2) maintenance practices, (3) crop rotation and management strategies under natural and/or socio-economic constraints, and (4) climatic trends.
Structured around three themes, the team brings to the laboratory knowledge and methodological developments related to biotic/abiotic water-vegetation interactions under marked anthropogenic forcings, which are essential to the understanding of broader interactions involving soil and contaminants.
- Characterization of natural and anthropogenic variability of the agrosystem that impacts the water cycle and/or the dynamics of the vegetation cover.
Using survey, field observation and remote sensing data, the team studies the determinants of the spatial dynamics of cropping systems and the characteristics of infrastructure networks (mainly small reservoirs and ditches), with the aim of numerically simulating their structure-function relationship.
- Understanding ecohydrological processes within agrosystems.
Based on observations in micrometeorology and hydrology, in situ and from remote sensing, as well as on experiments under controlled conditions, the team is studying (1) soil-plant-atmosphere water exchanges under highly heterogeneous conditions (heterogeneous cover, hilly relief), in relation to soil properties (water content, soil surface properties) and surface water tables, (2) interactions between plant cover features and blue water (hydrochory, ecohydraulics) under anthropogenic forcings (maintenance practices), (3) the hydrological functioning of plots and infrastructures, alone or in a network, and (4) the relative contributions of natural heterogeneities (e.g. geomorphology) and anthropogenic heterogeneities (e.g. soil surface properties related to agricultural practices) of the landscape on hydrological flows.
- Development of an integrated structure-function modelling integrating the elementary models developed by the two previous themes.
By numerical exploration of this type of model with a spatial grain fine enough (plot, infrastructure) to be discussed with the actors of the territory, the team identifies and analyses the effect of the levers (practices, infrastructures, ecological engineering) of the cultivated landscape on the water cycle in relation to vegetation.
| Titre | Responsable scientifique LISAH | Bailleur du projet | √ Date début | Date fin | Etat projet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MOMAC | VINATIER Fabrice | Labex Agro | 10-2021 | 09-2024 | en cours |
| SEEDBANK | VINATIER Fabrice | Labex Agro | 09-2021 | 09-2024 | en cours |
| ALTOS | JACOB Frédéric | PRIMA | 02-2020 | 12-2023 | en cours |
| WATERSEED | VINATIER Fabrice | Métaprogramme INRAE Biosefair | 09-2021 | 09-2023 | en cours |
