Storage and Release of Soil Organic Carbon in Alpine Environments

This PhD project at Université de Savoie Chambéry within the EDYTEM laboratory explores soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics in vulnerable alpine environments facing climate change and evolving land-use practices. The research combines observational studies across alpine pastoral gradients with experimental climate manipulation to determine how human practices and microbial communities influence carbon storage. The candidate will employ advanced analytical techniques, including microbial sequencing, metabolomics, and isotope labeling, to assess carbon stabilization and loss. The successful applicant will work collaboratively across landscape and laboratory scales to generate critical insights into global environmental changes.

• Conduct field observations across historical and current pastoral gradients in the Alps.
• Execute experimental simulations combining climate change factors with varying grazing intensities.
• Perform advanced laboratory analyses including microbial sequencing, metabolomics, and organic matter fractionation.
• Measure CO2 fluxes and utilize isotope labeling and lysimetry techniques.
• Analyze and interpret multi-scale data to evaluate soil carbon stabilization and vulnerability.