MG36176 - Diamond Synchrotron: Understanding the controls on saprotrophic fungal growth in porous media

Project: Research

Project Details

Description

Fungi play vital roles in natural soil ecosystems in the decomposition of organic matter, carbon cycling, nutrient distribution and symbiosis with plants. It is believed that soil fungi and their role in plant-soil feedback processes will play a critical role in achieving global food security amidst land scarcity and soil and water degradation. Furthermore, fungi can offer us solutions to engineering challenges including: remediation of contaminated land and stabilisation of slopes by modifying soil hydraulic and mechanical behaviour. This proposal aims to investigate in fully 3D conditions for the first time the controls on the growth of saprotrophic fungi in soil.

Layman's description

4 days synchrotron XCT imaging of fungal growth in soils on the i13 beamline at the Diamond Synchrotron, Harwell.
StatusFinished
Effective start/end date13/09/2417/09/24

Keywords

  • synchrotron tomography
  • XCT
  • fungi
  • geotechnics
  • porous media

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