Soilμ3d project: emergent properties of soil microbial functions from 3d modelling and spatial descriptors of pore scale heterogeneity

International audience; The reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by improving the efficiency of agricultural systems through robust ecologically-based management practices represents the most important challenge facing agriculture. Models are needed to evaluate the effects of soil properties, climate, and agricultural management practices on soil carbon and on the nitrogen transformations responsible for GHG emissions. Models of Carbon and nitrogen cycles in soils need improvements so they can provide more accurate and robust predictions. They use empirical functions which account for the different environmental factors that affect microbial functions. However, these types of function have…