Envitam PHD Student Day 2014 Abstract Book

Graduate School on Environmental Sciences, Technologies and Management (ENVITAM)
Proceedings of the ENVITAM PhD Student Day 2014
March 5, 2014 Universit catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
Editor: Sbastien Lambot
Contents
Contents
Program of the Day 1 Water and Environment Soil piping: detection, hydrological functioning and modelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Factors explaining on-site irrigation performance variability in Triffas irrigated perimeter (East Morocco) . . Groundwater pressure mapping in Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . In vitro screening for drought tolerant somaclones and genetic diversity in wheat (Triticum durum. Desf.) . . Joint Estimation of Soil Moisture Prole and Hydraulic Parameters by Ground-penetrating Radar Data Assimilation with Maximum Likelihood Ensemble Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Experiment design for a hydrogeophysical investigation of the unsaturated zone of a karst system . . . . . . . Karst hydrogeology of the underground Lesse river in Furfooz (Belgium) Tracer-tests interpretation and modeling : rst results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Soil infrastructure evolution and its effect on water transfer processes under contrasted tillage systems with preliminary results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rhodococcus erythropolis, a good candidate for an in-situ bioaugmentation starter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A real-time ow Muskingum forecasting model for three main station of the Medjerda River . . . . . . . . . Regionalization and contribution to the study of reservoirs sedimentation: Lakes of Cape Bon and the Tunisia Central . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Denition of an interaction index between mining activities and groundwwater resources in the Walloon Region. Water uptake efciency of a maize plant - A simulation case study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Vadose zone studies at an industrial contaminated site: the vadose zone monitoring system and cross-hole geophysics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Transmissive and capacitive behavior of the unsaturated zone in Devonian limestones of the Calestienne (Belgium) and implications for the functioning of the epikarstic aquifer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Developping an optimal soil and water quality monitoring network for the Triffa irrigated perimeter (Eastern of Morocco) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Changes in soil properties after implementation of soil and water conservation measures . . . . . . . . . . . 5 7 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 25 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32
2 Towards Sustainable Agroecosystems The potential of reforesting landscapes to restore native oristic biodiversity and enhance livelihoods in Ecaudor Carbon associated with clay and ne silt as an indicator for SOC decadal evolution under different residue management practices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chemical Hydrolysis of Fagus sylvatica Wood: Dilute Acid vs. Alkaline Treatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Autonomous robots: a potential weapon for farmers in their battle against weeds? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Development of formulated elicitors to control bioagressors of wheat: how? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Development of a hybrid LCA model for the wood construction sector in Walloon region . . . . . . . . . . . Characterization of fatty acid and carotenoid production in an Acutodesmus microalga isolated from the Algerian Sahara . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Some Interesting Sources of Plant Seed Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Innovation in Environmental Engineering Full-wave modeling of near-eld ground-penetrating radar data for imaging root water uptake dynamics . . Non-destructive sensing of tree trunk internal structures and wood properties using microwave radar imaging and full-wave inversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wildower strips, an alternative to pesticide? A tool for conservation biological control: impact of functional diversity and mowing regime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Information content in frequency-dependent, multi-offset GPR data for layered media reconstruction using full-wave inversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . List of participants
33 . 33 . 34 . 35 . 36 37
Program of the Day

Venue The ENVITAM PhD Day 2014 will be held in Louvain-la-Neuve, Place Croix du Sud 4, building Carnoy B0 (Floor 0) in Rooms B059 Thodore Schwann (Posters, coffee breaks and lunch) and B091 Jean-Baptiste Carnoy (Oral presentations). Schedule 8h30-9h00: Arrival of the participants. 9h00-9h20: Introduction by Sbastien Lambot and Marnik Vanclooster. 9h20-9h40: "Factors explaining on-site irrigation performance variability in Triffas irrigated perimeter (East Morocco)" by Nicolas Feltz. 9h40-10h00: "Joint Estimation of Soil Moisture Prole and Hydraulic Parameters by Ground-penetrating Radar Data Assimilation with Maximum Likelihood Ensemble Filter" by Anh Phuong Tran. 10h00-10h20: "Experiment design for a hydrogeophysical investigation of the unsaturated zone of a karst system" by Arnaud Watlet. 10h20-11h20: Coffe break and Poster Session I. 11h20-11h40: "Rhodococcus erythropolis, a good candidate for an in-situ bioaugmentation starter." by Thibaut Masy. 11h40-12h00: "Denition of an interaction index between mining activities and groundwwater resources in the Walloon Region." by Louise Collier. 12h00-12h20: "Vadose zone studies at an industrial contaminated site: the vadose zone monitoring system and cross-hole geophysics" by Natalia Fernandez de Vera. 12h20-13h40: Lunch. 13h40-14h00: "Carbon associated with clay and ne silt as an indicator for SOC decadal evolution under different residue management practices." by Sylvain Trigalet. 14h00-14h20: "Autonomous robots: a potential weapon for farmers in their battle against weeds?" by Sruthi Moorthy Krishna Moorthy Parvathi. 14h20-14h40: "Development of a hybrid LCA model for the wood construction sector in Walloon region" by Vanessa Zeller. 14h40-15h00: "Full-wave modeling of near-eld ground-penetrating radar data for imaging root water uptake dynamics" by Nicolas Mourmeaux. 5
Contents
15h00-16h00: Coffe break and Poster Session II. 16h00-16h20: "Non-destructive sensing of tree trunk internal structures and wood properties using microwave radar imaging and full-wave inversion" by Laurence Mertens. 16h20-16h40: "Wildower strips, an alternative to pesticide? A tool for conservation biological control: impact of functional diversity and mowing regime" by Sverin Hatt. 16h40-17h00: "Information content in frequency-dependent, multi-offset GPR data for layered media reconstruction using full-wave inversion" by Albric De Coster. 17h00-17h30: Best poster and best presentation Awards 17h30-18h00: Closure and reception List of posters "Soil piping: detection, hydrological functioning and modelling" by Jean-Baptiste Got. "Groundwater pressure mapping in Africa" by Ouedraogo Issoufou. "In vitro screening for drought tolerant somaclones and genetic diversity in wheat (Triticum durum. Desf.)" by Nadia Sandra Kacem. "Karst hydrogeology of the underground Lesse river in Furfooz (Belgium) Tracer-tests interpretation and modeling : rst results" by Lorraine Dewaide. "Soil infrastructure evolution and its effect on water transfer processes under contrasted tillage systems with preliminary results" by Nargish Parvin. "A real-time ow Muskingum forecasting model for three main station of the Medjerda River" by Sahar Abidi. "Regionalization and contribution to the study of reservoirs sedimentation: Lakes of Cape Bon and the Tunisia Central" by Olfa Hajji. "Water uptake efciency of a maize plant - A simulation case study" by Flicien Meunier. "Transmissive and capacitive behavior of the unsaturated zone in Devonian limestones of the Calestienne (Belgium) and implications for the functioning of the epikarstic aquifer." by Amal Poulain. "Developping an optimal soil and water quality monitoring network for the Triffa irrigated perimeter (Eastern of Morocco)" by Karim Andich. "Changes in soil properties after implementation of soil and water conservation measures" by Pablo Borja. "Chemical Hydrolysis of Fagus sylvatica Wood: Dilute Acid vs. Alkaline Treatment" by Krystian Miazek. "Development of formulated elicitors to control bioagressors of wheat: how?" by Geraldine Le Mire. "Characterization of fatty acid and carotenoid production in an Acutodesmus microalga isolated from the Algerian Sahara" by Borhane Samir Grama. "Some Interesting Sources of Plant Seed Oil" by Aman Paul.
Section 1
Water and Environment

Soil piping: detection, hydrological functioning and modelling
J.-B. Got, C. Bielders, and S. Lambot
Earth and Life Institute, Environmental Sciences, Universit caholique de Louvain, Croix du sud 2, bte L7.05.02, 1348 Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium Email: jean-baptiste.got@uclouvain.be
Abstract (Poster) Soil piping remains a relatively unexplored phenomenon despite its substantial impacts on watershed-scale water and sediments transfer in numerous locations around the world. In very general terms, soil piping refers to the formation of sub-surface pipes or tunnels due to the erosive action of water owing through the soil. Presumably initiated by biopores or desiccation cracks, these natural pipes are often considered as the largest category of macropores (sufciently large for water to sculpt their form) and have the potential to provide subterranean networks with the greatest hydrological connectivity (Jones et al., 2010). Present in a wide range of pedoclimatic environments across the globe (Verachtert et al., 2011), these networks act as conduits for water, sediments, gases and solutes (Smart et al., 2012). Over the past forty years, research has demonstrated the important contribution of natural soil pipes in water transfer and especially their role in accelerating subsurface ows and expanding stormow contributing area. However, these studies do not yet allow to fully assess their hydrological functioning. According to Jones et al. (2010), this deciency is due to a lack of continuous measurements and the complex characterization of pipe networks (their underground and heterogeneous nature makes the number of pipes, their dimensions, positions and connectivity very difcult to estimate). Following these observations, we propose, in this research project, to develop an integrated methodology that will allow a better understanding of natural soil pipes hydrological behavior at the hillslope scale in the specic context of Loess-derived soils (Gueule valley, Sippenaeken, Belgium). This novel methodology involves: 1. Non-invasive, high-resolution imaging using ground-penetrating radar (GPR) using the latest advances in signal processing and object detection in order to characterize the pipe network (number of pipes, dimensions, positions and connectivity) as well as the position of any impervious layer. 2. The installation of ow meter and piezometer networks to fully characterize the link between pipeow and the water table (which is crucial but neglected in almost every research until today). These monitoring networks should present high temporal and spatial resolutions. Combining this information at the hillslope scale should not only allow to better understand the hydrological behavior of a pipe network in Loess-derived soil but also to model its hydrological functioning.
Proceedings ENVITAM PhD Day 2014
Factors explaining on-site irrigation performance variability in Triffas irrigated perimeter (East Morocco)
Nicolas Feltz and Marnik Vanclooster
Earth and Life Institute, Environmental Sciences, Universit caholique de Louvain, Croix du sud 2, bte L7.05.02, 1348 Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium Email: nicolas.feltz@uclouvain.be
Abstract (Oral) Irrigated agriculture remains the largest consumer of global freshwater resources, and improving water management in irrigated agriculture is a key issue to solve the global water and food crisis. The design, planning and improvement of irrigation often rely on the assessment of irrigation performance (IP), using efciency indicators. However, the use of the efciency concepts can lead to misinterpretation and is frequently criticized. Moreover, they only include technical, on-site and time-specic considerations, while socio-economical issues, management and scale effects are neglected. Actual performances are then likely to be more variable than considered, and this variability must be quantied. In this research, we aim to assess and model technical irrigation performance for the Triffas irrigation perimeter in East Morocco. The objectives are to characterize the irrigation long term technical performance and to analyze the variability of this performance in terms of technical, agronomic and socio-economical parameters with a particular attention devoted to the associated uncertainty in order to improve the scaling relationships of performance. For meeting the study objectives, background data (land use and land use pattern, soil data, topography,..) were collected. A eld survey and farm eld questionnaire allowed characterizing the irrigation practices in the subregion and collecting additional eld data for performance evaluation. The data collection step was followed by a modeling step, allowing assessing i) the technical irrigation performance, ii) the uncertainty associated with the irrigation performance evaluation and iii) the factors and processes explaining the variability of assessed performance. The results show that IP, when including irrigation management practices, is much more variable than usually considered. Observed performance variability is related to total amount of irrigation water applied over the year, which can itself be linked to many factors. Some of these are agronomic or technical, such as application technology or cropping pattern, but other are socio-economical and even nearly psychological. This study indeed shows that, in the study area, IP variability is linked to farm size when drip irrigation is practiced and to both crop and "citrus area to farm area" ratio when traditional surface irrigation is. Those sometimes surprising relationship can be explained by case specic issues, highlighting the need to include such socio-economic considerations into the irrigation evaluation process. The developed method, based on the water balance, can be performed with widely available data.
1. Water and Environment
Groundwater pressure mapping in Africa

Ouedraogo Issoufou, Defourny Pierre and Marnik Vanclooster
Earth and Life Institute, Universit Catholique de Louvain, Croix du Sud 2, Box 2, B-1348 Louvain-laNeuve, Belgium. Email: ouediss6@yahoo.fr
Abstract (Poster) Africa is the second driest continent of the world after Australia. The continent comprises only 9% of the global fresh water resources, but supports 15% of the world population (Mazvimavi et al.; 2013). The booming population in Africa increases considerably the freshwater demand of the domestic, agricultural, and industrial sectors. Parts of these demands are fullled by increasing groundwater extractions. Yet, the increasing exploitation of groundwater has also resulted in signicant pressures. As well natural factors, as anthropogenic pressures threaten the sustainability of groundwater exploitation at the continental scale. But the pressures exerted by the agricultural sector is of primary concern as agriculture is the most important consumer of fresh water at the continental and global scale. The general objective of the research is the mapping of groundwater vulnerability and pressures at the scale of the in African continent using modern digital mapping, advanced data fusion and pressure modelling techniques. To achieve this objective, the proposed approach consists of using the most recent continental scale information on land use, climate, agricultural pressure, soil and groundwater. The methodology will be based rstly on a detailed study of the literature. Secondly a compilation of existing available databases will be made. Thirdly the modelling methodology will be designed and implemented in a Global Information System (GIS). Finally, smaller scale case studies will be selected allowing to validate the methodology. The results of this study will provide theoretical and practical bases for better management and protection of groundwater resources at the scale of the African continent. Key words: Africa, groundwater, modeling, sustainability, mapping, data fusion, GIS. Mazvimavi D., Maathuis B., Kirugara D., Fernandez D. (2013). Water resources management (http://www.bragma.eu/home/les/GMESAfrica_WaterResourcesManagementChapter_Final.pdf).
10
In vitro screening for drought tolerant somaclones and genetic diversity in wheat (Triticum durum. Desf.)
Kecem N.S. (1, 2) , Delporte F. (1), Djekoun A. (2), Watillon B. (1)
(1) Centre Wallon de Recherches Agronomiques. CRA-W Dpartement Sciences du Vivant, Btiment JeanBaptiste de la Quintinie, Chausse de Charleroi, 234 B-5030, (2) Universit Constantine 1, Facult des Sciences de la Nature et de la Vie, Dpartement de Biologie et Ecologie Vgtale B.P. 325 Route Ain El Bey, Constantine 25017, Algrie Email: kacem.sandra@yahoo.fr
Abstract (Poster) Environmental stresses result in water deciency for the plants, thus impairing its numerous biological roles. In vitro screening for stress tolerance will have its signicance in identifying cultivars with optimal stress tolerance and productivity. In the present study, drought-induced alterations in callogenesis rate and duration timing, regeneration rate, fresh and dry callus weight, and callus area were assessed in stressed versus non-stressed mature embryo cultures of three durum wheat genotypes. Water stress was imposed by increasing concentrations of polyethylene glycol in the induction medium (PEG 6000) from 0 to 1.5 mPA during a 30 day-period of culture. With the aim of selecting drought tolerant lines in durum wheat, an additional mutagen based approach using EMS was followed. The three durum wheat varieties characterized by different water stress tolerances in the eld, showed distinct behaviors under osmotic stress in vitro. Callus derived from the the most drought tolerant variety Djeneh Khetaifa (DK) exhibited more tolerance in vitro compared with Oued Zenati (OZ) and Waha (W) varieties. Compared to controls, PEG signicantly affected callus growth resulting in a gradual decrease in all measured growth parameters. Besides, the effect of the osmotic stress on the oxalate oxidase (OXO) enzyme activity and embryogenesis ability was evaluated after 8, 15 and 30 days of culture. An intense OXO staining was observed after 8 days of culture in all varieties, but was less important in the resistant ones. The staining appeared to gradually decrease over culture time. The increase in PEG concentration was accompanied by an augmentation of OXO enzyme activity. As far as mutagen based approach is concerned the lethal EMS dose was determined on 30-day old callus derived from EMS treated mature embryos. The rst obtained results indicate that EMS causes a decrease in callus growth in both the presence and the absence of PEG, as well as in the regeneration rate, and a few seedlings displayed anomalies. EMS treatment does not seem to have induced increased PEG tolerance in treated calli. A study with a larger number of embryos would be needed to conrm the results. Keys words: Triticum durum, Mature embryo, Drought stress, Callogenesis, Poly Ethylene Glycol (PEG), Ethyl Methyl Sulfonate (EMS).
11
Joint Estimation of Soil Moisture Prole and Hydraulic Parameters by Ground-penetrating Radar Data Assimilation with Maximum Likelihood Ensemble Filter
Anh Phuong Tran (1), Marnik Vanclooster (1), Milija Zupanski (2), and Sbastien Lambot (1)
(1) Environmental Sciences, Earth and Life Institute, Universit catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. (2) Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, USA. Email: phuong.tran@uclouvain.be
Abstract (Oral) Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) has recently become a powerful geophysical technique to characterize soil moisture at the eld scale. Compared to the airborne/spaceborne remote sensing techniques, GPR can provide soil moisture data with a much higher spatial resolution (around 0.11 m). Its characterization depth is also larger for the fact that GPR works near the soil surface. We developed a data assimilation scheme to simultaneously estimate the vertical soil moisture prole and hydraulic parameters from time-lapse GPR measurements. The assimilation scheme includes a soil hydrodynamic model to simulate the soil moisture dynamics, a full-wave electromagnetic wave propagation model and petrophysical relationship to link the state variable with the GPR data, and a maximum likelihood ensemble assimilation algorithm. The hydraulic parameters are estimated jointly with the soil moisture using a state augmentation technique. The approach allows for the direct assimilation of GPR data, thus maximizing the use of the information. The proposed approach was validated by numerical experiments assuming wrong initial conditions and hydraulic parameters. We compared three scenarios: open-loop (without assimilation), surface soil moisture assimilation and GPR assimilation. The synthetic soil moisture proles were generated by the Hydrus-1D model, which then were used by the electromagnetic model and petrophysical relationship to create "observed" GPR data. The results show that the data assimilation signicantly improves the accuracy of the hydrodynamic model prediction. Compared with the surface soil moisture assimilation, the GPR data assimilation better corrects the soil moisture prole and hydraulic parameters. The results also show that the estimated soil moisture prole in the coarse soil converges to the "true" state more rapidly than in the ne one. Of the three unknown parameters of the Mualem-van Genuchten model, the estimation of n is more accurate than that of and Ks . The approach shows great promise to use GPR measurements for the soil moisture prole and hydraulic parameter estimation at the eld scale.
12
Experiment design for a hydrogeophysical investigation of the unsaturated zone of a karst system
Arnaud Watlet (1), Michel Van Camp (2), Olivier Kaufmann (1)
(1) University of Mons, Department of Geology and Applied Geology, Mons, Belgium (2) Royal Observatory of Belgium, Seismology-Gravimetry Section, Brussels, Belgium Email: arnaud.watlet@umons.ac.be
Abstract (Oral) Karst systems provide 25% of drinkable water in the world. Present knowledge of karsts has evidenced the importance of the unsaturated zone on the water dynamics. The Karst Aquifer ReseArch by Geophysics (KARAG) project aims at leveraging our previous experience in karst, hydrogeology, gravimetry and geophysics to understand the water dynamics and storage in the unsaturated zones, and more specically the epikarst zones, of a karst system, which are often the lesser known part in the karst water balance and dynamics. For a better understanding of the inltration processes within the epikarst, insights of spatial and temporal changes in the groundwater content are needed. However, high underground heterogeneities of such geologically complex environments are major constraints for such a purpose. Geophysical tools used in hydrology are non-destructive ways to investigate groundwater content characteristics. On one hand, an electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) monitoring system is used to image, at least on a daily basis, the spatial variability of resistivities due to the complex geometry of the epikarst. On the other hand, gravimetric measurements can provide valuable insights on changes in the groundwater content by measuring variations in the underground densities. Coupling surface and in cave measurements lead to crucial information on the water masses stored in the unsaturated zone. Additional monitoring tools are required: (1) Flow recorders inside the cave to monitor discharge, temperature and conductivity of the water that percolate throughout the unsaturated zone. For this purpose, we benet from the Rochefort Cave Laboratory (Belgium) infrastructures that provide time series of data (up to 15 years). (2) A network of time domain reectometry (TDR) probes to monitor ground moisture. (3) Piezometers and other hydrogeological tools to monitor charge of the saturated zone. We present the set up of a permanent ERT monitoring system and the rst gravimetric observations at the Rochefort Cave Laboratory site. We will show our design for such experiments, how we intend to put the pieces of the karst puzzle together using indirect measurements (ERT, gravimetry) and direct measurements (dripping rate, moisture content, etc.) and how intricate it can be to work with such geologically heterogeneous systems.
13
Karst hydrogeology of the underground Lesse river in Furfooz (Belgium) Tracer-tests interpretation and modeling : rst results
Dewaide Lorraine
University of Namur, Geology Department, Belgium Email: lorraine.dewaide@unamur.be
Abstract (Poster) In Furfooz, near Dinant (Belgium), the Lesse river is partially inltrating through a sinkhole (Trou des Nutons) and is re-emerging 800 m downstream at a resurgence called the Trou de La Loutre. According to the hydrological conditions, the discharge of the subterraneous stream varies between 5 and 65 l/s which is rather low. The specicity of this underground system is the existence of an important volume of standing water (the Puits des Vaux lake) on the ow path. The inuence of this reservoir on the hydrogeological behavior of the underground Lesse was never studied. In order to understand and to characterize the hydrogeology of the active system, three tracer-tests were performed in mid water (19 l/s) and low water (10,5 l/s and 7 l/s) ow conditions. Conservative tracer (uoresceine or rhodamine) was injected in the sinkhole and automatic sampling devices were installed in several location where the access to the subterraneous river is made possible by the development of annexed karstic networks. The breakthrough curves (BTC) obtained via the different tests show similarities in particular in the existence of a double peak downstream the Puits des Vaux lake. Interpretation of the BTCs along with eld observations and monitoring of various parameters (temperature, conductivity and water level) along the ow path, suggest that the dual peak is due to the presence of the lake on the tracer route. Indeed this lake is acting as a pool relatively quiescent at the surface and in which the ow coming from upstream is running. Two ows are then coexisting: one spreading slowly in subsurface waters causing temporary detention of the tracer; the other consisting in a more convective and quicker ow which runs downstream at greater depth. The dual ow results in the creation of a dual peaked BTC. Evaluation of the solute-transport parameters was performed by application of a transport model called OTIS (One-dimensional Transport with inow and Strorage) based on the classical advection-dispersion equation but including mass transfer processes between mobile and immobile zones developed along the whole traced system (two-region non-equilibrium model). Results of the three tracer-tests modeling show consistent parameters evaluation in particular in the calibration of the mobile and immobile ow sections. Although the geometry of the active system is rather constant along the underground stream in various ow conditions, the Puits des Vaux lake shows important changes in its geometry between the different test. Its geometry seems to have a major inuence on the appearance of the dual peaked BTCs downstream.
14
Soil infrastructure evolution and its effect on water transfer processes under contrasted tillage systems with preliminary results
Parvin N., Chlin M., Hiel MP., Barbieux S., Degrune F., Vandenbol M., Garr S., Bodson B., Colinet G., and Aurore Degr
Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech Email: nargish.parvin@ulg.ac.be
Abstract (Poster) The heterogeneity of soil structure and porosity are highly inuenced by external factors like tillage systems and other land management approaches. The aim of this project is to investigate the effect of soil tillage along with residue management on the changing pattern of soil structure. This investigation will help to emphasize the different water ow dynamics especially the preferential ow processes through the soil that are inuenced by the changes in structural distribution in the soil prole. Mostly the preferential ow of water is addressed by the apparent velocity through the soil but this study will focus on soil structure along with soil moisture dynamics at pedon scale or more specically at aggregate scale. The experimentation has been started from June 2013 in the research eld known as Solcouvert (objects: strip-till (ST) versus winter ploughing (WP)) and Solresidus (objects: no-till with organic matter restitution (NI) versus no-till without organic matter restitution (NO)). Soil prole description has been carried out in the four objects of land management. Soil sampling has been done in different depths of soil according to the soil prole description. Soil samples will be used for the measurement of water retention capacity (done), hydraulic conductivity and x-ray microtomography. The assessment of soil water retention curves with pressure plate technique show signicantly (p<0.05) higher water retention (Hwr) in WP than ST at 9.8 to 98 hPa, Hwr in WP than NI at 39 to 14710 hPa, Hwr in ST than NI at 294 to 14710 hPa and Hwr in WP than NO at 69 to 98 hPa. There was no signicant difference in the water retention between NO and NI and ST and NO. Since, tillage practices generally increase soil porosity, the correlation between soil hydraulics and porosity distribution would expect to be different for different tillage systems. In our study, WP retains more water due to the increase of macroporosity than ST, NI and NO. As the changes in soil structure are usually noticed in the range of 9.8 to 98 hPa, so, we can conclude that there is certainly structural change between WP and conservation practices of ST, NI and NO. In our study, there will be also soil moisture sensors (Decagon 10HS, 5TM and ML3 Thetaprobe) to capture the total soil moisture networks in the eld under four different trials. The soils from the different trials and also from different depths (0-15, 25-30 and 50-60 cm) were used for zone specic calibration of the sensors. All the experiments will be repeated twice a year. For the specic spatio-temporal comparison, the monitoring results from electrical resistance tomography will be available from the collaborated project of the same faculty.
15
Rhodococcus erythropolis, a good candidate for an in-situ bioaugmentation starter.

Thibaut Masy(1), David Caterina(2), Olivier Tromme(3), Serge Hiligsmann(1), Frdric Nguyen(2), Philippe Thonart(1)
(1) Walloon Center of Industrial Biology, Departement of Chemistry and Bio-Industries, Gembloux AgroBioTech, University of Lige, Gembloux, Belgium (2) Applied Geophysics, Department ArGEnCo, University of Lige, Lige, Belgium (3) Sanifox SPRL, Chevetogne, Belgium Email: tmasy@doct.ulg.ac.be
Abstract (Oral) In-situ bioremediation is as a green and cheap process to clean soils from pollution compared to other techniques which often imply the excavation of soils. Amongst the bacteria used, Rhodococcus erythropolis appears as one of the best candidates for bioaugmentation. In fact, this species forms biolms and produces biosurfactants to solubilize hydrocarbons, which are consequently more available for this bacterium and the endogenous oil-degrading ora. Moreover, its large genome allows the degradation of various persistent pollutants, such as polyaromatic hydrocarbons or sulfur-containing hydrocarbons. In addition to these benets, our strain Rhodococcus erythropolis T902.1, isolated from a dried polluted soil, resists to desiccation during industrial process or drought, and maintains its biodegradation capabilities. To test this strain in eld conditions, a bioaugmentation experiment at a pilot scale was initiated in partnership with the Department ArGEnCo, Applied Geophysics of the University of Lige. The pilot contains 2 m3 of sand, in which a vertical lens of highly polluted clayey soil (7200 mg of hydrocarbons/g of dry weight) was inserted. During the rst three months, 75% of the hydrocarbons content was degraded, whereas a previous biostimulation experiment with KNO3 and H2O2 did not lead to any depletion of the pollutant. This degradation was correlated with the increase of total and specic microorganisms (by a factor 13 and 10 respectively) and the almost complete NO3- consumption (from 50 to nearly 0 mg/L). Furthermore, electrical resistivity tomography images of the contaminated lens also depicted a switch in the bulk conductivity values that does not correspond to the trend followed by the aqueous conductivity. It could be explained by the implementation of the injected bacteria and their production of hydrophobic biosurfactants desorbing hydrocarbons from soil particles. This assumption is strengthened by the fact that low concentrations of hydrocarbons were detected in piezometers downstream of the contaminated area. Further experiments will be carried out at a smaller scale to validate this hypothesis. On the one hand, we are currently designing a protocol to follow the biolm formation by Rhodococcus erythropolis T902.1 with spectral induced polarization (SIP) signature in sand columns of 1.5 L. On the other hand, the analysis of biosurfactants will be performed in liquid cultures containing diesel oil, to characterize the hydrophobicity developed by the strain in presence of a common but complex pollutant. To conclude, all these characteristics showed by Rhodococcus erythropolis T902.1 make it an ideal candidate for the production of a bioremediation starter to quickly treat hydrocarbons-polluted soils. . Furthermore, the better comprehension of geophysical signatures associated with such a process may lead in the future to use them as a low-cost monitoring tool for a better visualization of active remediation zones.
16
A real-time ow Muskingum forecasting model for three main station of the Medjerda River
ABIDI Sahar (1), and Marnik Vanclooster (2)
(1) National Agronomic Institute of Tunis, (2) Earth and Life Institute, Environmental Sciences, Universit catholique de Louvain. Email: sahar.abidi@yahoo.fr
Abstract (Poster (presented by Prof. Marnik Vanclooster)) River ow forecasting has always been one of the most important issues in hydrology. Models of ood prediction are varied; there are a big number of algorithms from simple statistical receipt to the partial differential equations of Saint-Venant. In Tunisia, the ood problem arise the only perennial river, Medjerda, in particularly the plain of Ghardimaou-Jendouba-Bou Salem. The Muskingum model is the simple ood propagation model and is numerically equivalent to the Saint-Venant equations via the diffusion equation of a wave. In this research, Muskingum model is used to forecast 21 oods hydrographs for three stations in Medjerda River. This model requires two data from the upstream station one on the present time and the second on the forecasting time and a data from the downstream station on the present time. The delays of forecasting were 2, 4, 6 and 8 hours. The forecasting operation consisted in choosing reconstitution coefcients by Muskingum model for a previous ood that belong to the same season and had a near humidity index. To evaluate the quality of 252 forecasting operations, four numeric and three graphic performance measures were selected. The standard deviation error S was chosen to assess the mean quality error. A big difference for the peak ow prediction offer more damage than the little ow in the beginning and the end of ood, for that the peak relative error S1 was calculated. The difference time between observed and forecasted peak have to be the minimum, so the peak time difference S2 was dened. Hydrograph ow, Error ow and correlation between observed and calculated ow were the graphic criteria selected in this application. In the section GhardimaouJendouba, the standard deviation error S varied from 2 to 190 m3/s, the peak relative error S1 had low value -35 and 23% and the peak time difference S2 2 and 9 hours. While, for the section Jendouba-Bou Salem the value of the three criteria varied respectively from 2 to 236 m3/s, -24 to 30 % and -2 to 11hours. For the last section Ghardimaou-Bou Salem, the three criteria ranges between; 2 and 225 m3/s (for S), -18 and 12% (for S1) and 2 and 10 hours (for S2). These results are satisfactory for the three sections and all delay. That were conrmed by the mean ow error E which where for the three section -2 m3/s for the forecasting delay 2 hours, -3 to -4 m3/s for 4 hours, -6 to -8 m3/s for 6 hours and -8 to -13 m3/s for 8 hours. The propagation model Muskingum gave adequate results for the ow forecasting.
17
Regionalization and contribution to the study of reservoirs sedimentation: Lakes of Cape Bon and the Tunisia Central
HAJJI Olfa (1), and Marnik Vanclooster (2)
(1) National Agronomic Institute of Tunis, (2) Earth and Life Institute, Environmental Sciences, Universit catholique de Louvain. Email: olfa.hajji@yahoo.fr
Abstract (Poster (presented by Prof. Marnik Vanclooster)) In addition to their role as protection of the environment, the hilly lakes appear as local reserves of water available for agriculture. Nevertheless these hydraulic infrastructures are rather sensitive to sedimentation due to solid contributions. In Tunisia, water erosion affects nearly 3 million hectares of agricultural land, and constitutes a threat to the sustainability of these hilly reserves. 26 hilly lakes are distributed in the Tunisia central and the Ridge until the Cap Bon. To conserve these reserves, we had research to nd a simple and practical methodology which allows assessing the relative contribution of water erosion in sediment uxes at the outlet of the small watersheds and to seek preferential links between the various explanatory attributes of sedimentation. To achieve this aims, extract a typology of the sedimentation variability of 26 hilly Lakes, is required. The main objective of this paper is to form different classes of hilly Lakes, by using statistical method, and to dene a representative lake of each class. Based on the correlation table, the correlations between different variables are interpreted. Then three methods of analysis are used: the ACP; a descriptive analysis method to synthesize the most relevant information of the data, the hierarchical Classication to quantify the effect of the data in prioritizing different watersheds and the linear regression type Step wise or Step by step to nally get a relationship that expresses the parameters affecting the erosive process. By crossing the different results we try to identify a typology of hilly Lakes and to explain the reasons for such assemblies. The results deduct three classes. The rst group is the less vulnerable to the silting risk and is located on the southern and eastern borders West of the ridge and on the coastal plains. The lakes of this group are characterized by a low rate of silting, a large drainage area, a low relief, hydrographic network relatively hierarchical and an effect of precipitation and little intense runoff. A second group includes the most degraded environments cover almost the entire of the semi-arid zone of Central Tunisia. This group have very abrasive potential watershed, explained by high ow coefcients related mainly to higher erosive rainfall intensities associated with a moderate or accentuate topography, structure of soil over marl and a drainage non occupied and unimproved surface. A third group extends share and other sides north and south of the Ridge, has the catchment characterized by a moderate to high sedimentation rate. The sedimentation rate is governed by a more or less marl soil structure and an intense hydrodynamic compounded by the steep slopes of these basins. This study permitted to extract the preferential links between the various explanatory attributes of siltation, and to develop a typology of the reservoir siltation variability.
18
Denition of an interaction index between mining activities and groundwwater resources in the Walloon Region.
Louise Collier, Vincent Hallet
UNamur, Geology Department, Namur, Belgium Email: louise.collier@unamur.be
Abstract (Oral) Denition of an interaction index between mining activities and groundwater resources in the Walloon Region. L. Collier and V. Hallet Department of geology University of Namur - Belgium Groundwater and rocks are the two important underground resources in Wallonia. For example, in 2010, 380 million m3 of groundwater were exploited; this volume was used to supply 80 % of the drinking water of the Walloon population. Rocks, whose average annual production reaches more than 60 million tons, are extracted from 160 quarries sites. The main extracted materials are: limestone, sandstone, sand, int, porphyry and clay. Given the high density of population and environmental pressures, the spatial extension of quarries is increasingly limited. Depending of the geological structure of the deposit, only deepening is often possible. In this context, the extractive activity requires groundwater dewatering whose impacts aquifer hydrogeological regime. This is due to the fact that 75 % of the extracted rocks are classied as aquifer materials. The objectives of this study are to estimate the interaction between extractive activities where dewatering operations occur and groundwater resources and to calculate an interaction index based on geological and hydrogeological settings. First, mathematical models are used (Visual Modow software) to model the behavior of groundwater in different hydrogeological contexts. Conceptual models, consisting of theoretical representations of all types of situations likely to be encountered in quarries in Wallonia, are tested. Geological and hydrogeological parameters (as hydraulic conductivities, dewatering depth, boundary conditions, etc.) introduced in the model are modied. Results are used to determine the importance of each parameter in terms of pumped volumes and drawdown extension zones. Various case studies in Wallonia are also characterized and modeled. Based on the results, an interaction index is calculated to rank quarries according to their deepening and their interference on groundwater resources. Its calculation is based on the methods used for the estimation of natural hazards and the assessment of the vulnerability of aquifers. The objective of this ranking is to determine, using the quarry extension and simple hydrogeological parameters, the extent of hydrogeological investigations that have to be conducted during a feasibility study. These could be limited to a simple hydrogeological description up to a detailed ow and transport model in non-steady conditions.
19
Water uptake efciency of a maize plant - A simulation case study

Flicien Meunier (1), Daniel Leitner (2) , Gernot Bodner (3), Mathieu Javaux (4,5), Andrea Schnepf (5)
(1) Faculty of Biological Agricultural and Environmental Engineering, Universit catholique de Louvain, Belgique (2) Computational Science Center, Vienna (3) Division of Agronomy, BOKU University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (4) Environmental Sciences, Universit catholique de Louvain (5) Forschungszentrum Jlich GmbH, Agrosphere (IBG-3), D-52425 Jlich, Germany Email: felicien.meunier@uclouvain.be
Abstract (Poster) Water uptake by plant roots is a complex mechanism controlled by biological and physical properties of the soil-plant-atmosphere system and affects a major component of the water cycle, transpiration. This uptake of water by plants is one of the major factors of plant development. Since water uptake occurs at the roots, root architecture and hydraulic properties both play a crucial role in plant productivity. A fundamental understanding of the main processes of water uptake will enable better breeding of drought resistant plants and the improvement of irrigation strategies. In this work we analyzed the differences of root water uptake between idealized genotypes of a plant using mathematical modelling. The numerical simulations were performed by the R-SWMS software (Javaux et al., 2008). The model describes 3-D water movement in soil by solving Richards equation with a sink term representing root uptake. Water ow within the root xylem network and between soil and root is modelled based on water pressure gradients and calculated according to Doussans model. The sink term is calculated by integration of local uptakes within rooted representative elementary volumes of soil. The plant water demand is described by a boundary condition at the base of the shoot. We compare the water uptake efciency of three types of root system architectures of a maize plant. Two are actual architectures from genotypes showing significant differences regarding the internodal distance, the root growth rate and the insertion angle of their primary roots. The third one is an ideotype according to Lynch of the maize plant designed to perform better in one dry environment. We generated with RootBox ve repetitions of these three root systems with the same total root volume and simulated two drought scenarios at the owering stage (lack of water at the top or at the bottom of the soil domain). We did these simulations for two distinct distributions of local conductivities of root segments based on literature values. This numerical experiment shows signicantly different behaviors of the root systems in terms of dynamics of the water uptake, duration of the water stress or cumulative transpiration. The ranking of the maize architectures varied according to the considered drought scenario. The performance of a root system depends on the environment and on its hydraulic architecture suggesting that we always need to take the genotype-environment interaction into account for recommending breeding options. This study also shows that an ideotype must be built for a specic environment: the one we created experienced difculties to transpire when placed in different conditions it has been designed for. By mathematical simulation we increased the understanding of the most important underlying processes governing water uptake in a root system.
20
Vadose zone studies at an industrial contaminated site: the vadose zone monitoring system and cross-hole geophysics
Natalia Fernndez de Vera (1) Jean Beaujean (1) Pierre Jamin (1) Frdric Nguyen (1) Ofer Dahan (2) Marnik Vanclooster (3) Serge Brouyre (1)
(1)Universit de Liege, Dpartement ArGEnCO, Geo3 -Hydrogologie et Gologie de lEnvironnement, Lige, Belgium (2) Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel (3) Facult dingnierie biologique, agronomique et environnementale, Universit catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium Email: nfdvera@ulg.ac.be
Abstract (Oral) In order to improve risk characterization and remediation measures for soil and groundwater contamination, there is a need to improve in situ vadose zone characterization. However, most available technologies have been developed in the context of agricultural soils. Such methodologies are not applicable at industrial sites, where soils and contamination differ in origin and composition. In addition, most technologies are applicable only in the rst meters of soils, leaving deeper vadose zones with lack of information, in particular on eld scale heterogeneity. In order to overcome such difculties, a vadose zone experiment has been setup at a former industrial site in Belgium. Industrial activities carried out on site left a legacy of soil and groundwater contamination in BTEX, PAH, cyanide and heavy metals. The experiment comprises the combination of two techniques: the Vadose Zone Monitoring System (VMS) and cross-hole geophysics. The VMS allows continuous measurements of water content and temperature at different depths of the vadose zone. In addition, it provides the possibility of pore water sampling at different depths. The system is formed by a exible sleeve containing monitoring units along its depth which is installed in a slanted borehole. The exible sleeve contains three types of monitoring units in the vadose zone: Time Domain Transmissometry (TDT), which allows water content measurements; Vadose Sampling Ports (VSP), used for collecting water samples coming from the matrix; the Fracture Samplers (FS), which are used for retrieving water samples from the fractures. Cross-hole geophysics techniques consist in the injection of an electrical current using electrodes installed in vertical boreholes. From measured potential differences, detailed spatial patterns about electrical properties of the subsurface can be inferred. Such spatial patterns are related with subsurface heterogeneities, water content and solute concentrations. Two VMS were installed in two slanted boreholes on site, together with four vertical boreholes containing electrodes for geophysical measurements. Currently the site is being monitored under natural recharge conditions. Initial results show the reaction of the vadose zone to rainfall events, as well as chemical evolution of soil water with depth.
21
Transmissive and capacitive behavior of the unsaturated zone in Devonian limestones of the Calestienne (Belgium) and implications for the functioning of the epikarstic aquifer.
Amal Poulain (1), Gatan Rochez (1), Vincent Hallet (1)
(1) Universit de Namur, Dpartement de Gologie, Namur, Belgium Email: amael.poulain@unamur.be
Abstract (Poster) The shallow part of the bedrock is usually referred as the epikarstic area. This zone present a increased degree of weathering and fracturation and therefore exhibit higher porosity and permeability compared with the "fresh" underlying lithologies. Due to this, it may contain a certain amount of water, close to saturation, and then constituting a "perched epikarstic aquifer" whithin the unsaturated zone. Limestone aquifers represent the majority of global groundwater reserves. Their vulnerability is important, therefore the protection of this ressource is a major issue for the preservation of the water reserves. The unsaturated zone (including epikarst), which is located between the ground surface and the saturated zone (the aquifer sensu-stricto), represents a signicant transfer path for the aquifer recharge. Transportation and storage capacity features of the unsaturated zone are poorly understood, mainly due to the lack of direct observational data. One way to study the behavior of these areas, and particularely the role the epikarstic aquifer, is to record ows into the open karst of the unsaturated zone. In order to do this, we measure the outow of speleothem drip within caves. Since 2008, three stalactitic drips have been recorded within the Han-sur-Lesse karstic network. The experimental system consists of a self-siphoning reservoir collecting the drips and a pressiometric probe into the reservoir to estimate the dripping rate. The ow has been estimated on a daily basis for more than 6 years (2008-2014, ongoing) and shows interesting characteristics and frequent inter-annual correlations. The objective of this study is an attempt to connect the uctuations of the input signal (daily rainfall and particularly inltration) to the measured outow uctuations in the caves via a transfer function which may be linked to a conceptual model for the unsaturated zone. Several studies established that the ow rate in the unsaturated zone is a fonction of many parameters such as the soil and vegetation behavior, the saturation state of the system during the inltration process, the capacitive behavior of the epikarst aquifer, the bedrock fracturation and its implication on the existence of high-transmissivity pathways through the unsaturated zone, atmospheric pressure, etc. The behavior of the unsaturated zone also appear to be highly variable, even locally, probably due to the high spatial variability of the pre-mentionned parameters. We hope to present our rst interpretations as soon as possible as well as the developement of the rst models based on the 2008-2013 dataset. This work will be a part of a FNRS project in hydrogeology and geophysics (2013-2017). This project (Karst Aquifer Research by Geophysics) involves two PhD thesis (UNamur and UMons) and will focus on the epikarstic dynamic via geophysical experimentation coupled with hydrogeological data of the saturated and unsaturated part of the karstic aquifer.
22
Developping an optimal soil and water quality monitoring network for the Triffa irrigated perimeter (Eastern of Morocco)
K. ANDICH(1), M. VANCLOOSTER (2), B. SOUDI (3), M. JAVAUX (2) and M. SBAA (4)
(1) Centre rgional de la recherche agronomique, Oujda, Morocco, (2) Universit catholique de Louvain, Earth and life institute, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, (3) Institut agronomique et vtrinaire Hassan II, Rabat, Morocco, (4) Centre oriental des sciences et technologies, UMP, Oujda, Morocco. Email: andichkarim@gmail.com
Abstract (Poster) In Morocco, the irrigated areas play a key role as real centers for agricultural and rural development, both at local and regional level. Thus, the irrigated agriculture contributes to about 45% on average of the agricultural value added. However, it is noted that the water and soil of different irrigated areas are excessively exploited and threatened by different degradation problems. In this study, we aim to design an advanced methodology allowing to monitor soil and water quality in the irrigated perimeter of Triffa. The study area is the most fertile and productive agricultural region of north-east Morocco.The surface area of the plain rises to 61 000 ha of which 36 060 ha are irrigated. The climate is warm semi-arid. The mean annual rainfall in 28 years is 331 mm. The mean annual temperature is 17.2 C. Recognized by the quality of its clementine, the Triffa plain experienced during the last decade a large and rapid expansion of irrigated areas mainly citrus through improved irrigation. Recent studies have shown that in this region, soil and water resources are under pressure due to salinization and groundwater nitrate pollution. The degradation of soil and water resources is largely caused by the increased use of agrochemicals, such as nitrogen fertilizers and pesticides, and the lack of control of irrigation and drainage of the plots. The protection and the preservation of these resources are top priority necessities, particularly in arid zones. We rst aim to identify robust indicators of soil and groundwater degradation. These indicators should be able to measure the different functions and services provided by the soil and water system. Subsequently, we will design a spatial network allowing to evaluate the state of the soil and water resource. We will use geostatistical and GIS tools to optimize the monitoring network. This study is undertaken within the framework of a CUD-PIC project, aiming to develop tools for the management of water and soils resources in the irrigated perimeter of Morocco.
23
Changes in soil properties after implementation of soil and water conservation measures
Pablo Borja (1, 2), Veerle Vanacker (2), Gerard Govers (3)
(1) Proyecto CUD - Blgica, Facultad de Ciencias Agropecuarias, Universidad de Cuenca, Ecuador, (2) University of Louvain, Earth and Life Institute, Georges Lematre Centre for Earth and Climate Research, Belgium, (3) Physical Geography Research Group, KU Leuven, Belgium Email: mborja77@yahoo.com
Abstract (Poster) The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of soil and water conservation schemes on the physical and chemical (C, N and pH) properties of soils and sediments in degraded catchments. Other aspects that may affect soil dynamics, such as slope morphology, land use and vegetation density, were equally taken into account. Soil and sediment samples were taken in sites with different vegetation cover, land use and physiographic position. The following physical and chemical parameters were measured: volumetric water content (sat , act ), bulk density, pH, texture, organic matter, C and N content). Five micro-catchments (0.2 up to 5 ha) were selected within a 3 km2 area in the lower part of the Loreto catchment (Southern Ecuadorian Andes). The ve micro-catchments differ in vegetation cover and implementation of soil and water conservation measures. The experimental design consisted of three micro-catchments: (1) DI with conservation works, (2) DF with reforestation by Eucalyptus sp and (3) DT with no conservation works. Two micro-catchments have been monitored in an agricultural area: with (AI) and without (AT) bio-engineering works in the active gullies. The construction of checkdams in active gully oors reduces water and sediment connectivity, and favors sediment accumulation behind small dams. The low bulk density and high porosity of the accumulated sediment leads to favorable conditions for root development. Pioneer species of plants from the Poaceae and Fabacea family can quickly develop in these setting. On the degraded hill slopes, soils are truncated and outcrops of weathered bedrock are frequent. Our rst results do not show a clear relationship between volumetric water content at saturation (sat ), bulk density, or C content. The saturation water content does not vary signicantly between different sites, or land use types. Vegetation cover (%) appears to exert a strong control on the C content in the mineral soils. The highest C values are found in soils of forest plantations of Eucalyptus and Pinus species. These plantations are located in areas that were previously affected by active gullying. Our results show that the establishment of a protective vegetation cover is an important factor in soil restoration.
Section 2
Towards Sustainable Agroecosystems

The potential of reforesting landscapes to restore native oristic biodiversity and enhance livelihoods in Ecaudor
Middendorp, R.S.
Georges Lematre Center for Earth and Climate Research, University of Louvain, 3 Place Pasteur, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium Email: romaike.middendorp@uclouvain.be
Abstract (No presentation) Although tropical deforestation continues, forest regrowth is taking place in several humandominated landscapes. Reforestation in the form of secondary forest, planted forest, or agroforestry becomes crucial for conservation due to the continuous expansion of agriculture. This research project responds to the current lack of knowledge on the restoration potential of reforesting landscapes. A major challenge lies in nding ways to enhance biodiversity conservation without negatively affecting local communities (Clough et al. 2011). Conservation dilemmas in humandominated landscapes can be addressed by introducing market-based instruments, such as payments for ecosystem services and eco-certication schemes. These instruments employ economic incentives that are intended to move farmers towards more sustainable land-uses. Farmer decisions on land-use affect the spatial conguration of habitat in the landscape but little research considered the consequences of landscape composition on conservation (Tscharntke et al. 2005). Assessing the potential ecosystem-level impacts of these instruments is crucial for designing market-based approaches for biodiversity conservation that do not conict with the livelihoods of local communities (Wunder and Wertz-Kanounnikoff 2009; Blackman and Rivera 2010). Therefore, the main objective of this research project is to better understand the potential of reforesting landscapes to restore native oristic biodiversity and enhance livelihoods. It concentrates on two research questions: (i) How does the landscape-level pattern of reforestation affect the restoration potential for native oristic biodiversity in reforesting landscapes?; (ii) How can market-based instruments affect the livelihood of farmers, whilst enhancing biodiversity at the landscape level? This project focuses both on reforesting landscapes and cacao agroforestry in Ecuador. To conclude, this research project will contribute to the knowledge on the restoration potential of reforesting landscapes. The proposed methodology could be readily applied to answer similar questions in other regions where other market-based instruments are in place and it provides important guidelines for policies that stimulate sustainable reforestation initiatives.
25
26
Carbon associated with clay and ne silt as an indicator for SOC decadal evolution under different residue management practices.
Sylvain Trigalet (1), Kristof Van Oost (1), Christian Roisin (2), Bas van Wesemael (1)
(1) Universit catholique de Louvain - Earth and Life Institute, Georges Lematre Centre for Earth and Climate Research, 3, Place Louis Pasteur B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium (2) Walloon Agricultural Research Centre, Rue de Liroux, 9, B-5030 Gembloux, Belgium Email: sylvain.trigalet@uclouvain.be
Abstract (Oral) In the context of global changes and food security, it is essential to maintain or improve soil organic carbon stocks in agroecosystems. The evolution of these stocks needs to be investigated in details over decades to assess the sustainability of agricultural practices. Nevertheless, estimates of soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration or loss can be biased by large uncertainties due to temporal and spatial variability of organic carbon concentrations, even at the eld scale. In order to reduce these uncertainties, we used the organic carbon associated with clay and ne silt particles (ne fraction) rather than SOC in bulk soil for assessing decadal changes. This approach limits the impact of the inherent variability of labile carbon (carbon non-associated with clay and ne silt) on SOC estimates. We analysed archived soil samples taken in 1970 and recent ones taken in 2012 from an on-going long-term experiment in the Hesbaye region in Belgium. The experiment started in 1959 and contains three contrasting management practices (3 x 6 replicates): Residue Export (RE), Farmyard Manure (FYM) and Residue Restitution (RR). After 42 years, there are no signicant differences in bulk soil organic carbon concentrations between treatments (RE=9.2 gC.kg-1 soil; FYM=10.4 gC.kg-1soil; RR=10.1 gC.kg-1soil). In contrast, there are signicant differences (p<0.05) in stable carbon concentration between treatments over the same time period (RE=12.6 gC.kg-1 clay and ne silt; FYM=15.8 gC.kg-1 clay and ne silt; RR=14.7 gC.kg-1 clay and ne silt). Moreover, we can be 99% condent that stable carbon in the ne fraction increased between 1970 and 2012 in FYM (+19%) and RR plots (+14%). There was no signicant change of stable carbon in RE plots over the same period. In 1970, no differences in stable carbon concentration were detected between residue treatments. Labile carbon did not change signicantly from 1970 to 2012 but its variability increased for all plots except for the RE treatment. We used the Rothamsted Carbon model (RothC-26.3) to describe SOC stock changes under the different residue treatments. For bulk soil, observed trends in FYM and RR SOC stocks are in line with the ones predicted. Modelled SOC stocks changes from 1962 to 2012 are -14% (RE) and +10% (FYM). We also used RothC-26.3 to understand the evolution of the sensitive and slow fractions over time. On the one hand, we found that RothC was not capable to simulate the range of observed SOC stocks inter-annual variability. On the other hand, the increase of the RothC pool with slow decomposition (HUM) was similar to the trend in the carbon associated with the ne fraction observed in the FYM and RR plots. This nding highlights that residue management can improve carbon sequestration in agricultural soils, even if no changes are detected in bulk soil C.
2. Towards Sustainable Agroecosystems
27
Chemical Hydrolysis of Fagus sylvatica Wood: Dilute Acid vs. Alkaline Treatment
Krystian Miazek (1), Dorothee Gofn (2), Aurore Richel (3)
(1) University of Liege-Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, AgricultureisLife Platform, Gembloux, Belgium (2)University of Liege-Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, Cellule Innovation et Crativit, Gembloux, Belgium (3)University of Lige-Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, Unit of Biological and Industrial Chemistry, Gembloux, Belgium Email: kmiazek@ulg.ac.be
Abstract (Poster) Lignocellulosic biomass, found in a large variety of plants such as coniferous trees (Softwood), broad leaved trees (Hardwood), grasses and agricultural or food residues, is the most abundant source of molecules required for production of biofuels and high value - added products. Lignocellulose is composed of three polymers: cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. Cellulose is a non-branched polymer consisting of glucoses (hexoses). Hemicellulose is a complex carbohydrate containing pentoses (mainly xyloses in the case of Hardwood, grasses and agricultural wastes) or hexoses (usually mannoses in the case of Softwood) as the main sugars. Lignin is a biopolymer with aromatic alcohols as basic monomeric units. Cellulose chains are arranged in bundles and interlinked with hemicellulose. Lignin is cross-linked with hemicellulose and occupies space between cellulose bundles. Due to complex polymeric structure, lignocellulosic materials are resistant to hydrolysis. A number of treatment methods (mechanical, chemical, biochemical) is implemented to successfully hydrolyse lignocellulose. Amongst chemical methods harnessed to break lignocellulose structure, dilute acid and alkaline treatments are commonly mentioned, as the most efcient ones. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of dilute acid and alkaline treatment on hydrolysis rate of polymeric components in Fagus sylvatica wood. Fagus sylvatica also known as common beech is a broad leaved, deciduous tree that belongs to the family of Fagaceae, widely spread in Europe. Beech wood was determined to contain 48 % glucose, 18 % xylose and 20 % Klason lignin in its dry material. Results of this study showed that 1 h hydrolysis at 100 rC with the use of 3% H2SO4 resulted in 71 % removal of xylose and 4 % removal of glucose with Klason lignin remained intact. Additionally, the presence of sugar degradation products: 2 - furfural and hydroxymethylfurfural was detected in dilute acid hydrolysate. Release of 2 - furfural and hydroxymethylfurfural from beech wood was determined as 0.03 % and 0.1 %, respectively. On the other hand, 1 h hydrolysis at 100 rC with the use of 7% NaOH caused 59 % xylose removal and 11 % removal of Klason lignin with no effect on glucose. Dilute acid hydrolysis proved to be more efcient in removing xylose, but alkaline hydrolysis additionally showed to remove Klason lignin.
28
Autonomous robots: a potential weapon for farmers in their battle against weeds?
Sruthi Moorthy (1), Benoit Mercatoris (1), Bernard Boigelot (2)
(1) Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech , University of Lige , Belgium (2) Institut Monteore, University of Lige, Belgium Email: sruthimoorthy.krishnamoorthyparvathi@ulg.ac.be
Abstract (Oral) Autonomous robotic weed destruction can play a signicant role in crop production as it is aimed at automating one of the few unmechanized and drudging tasks of agriculture i.e., manual weed destruction. Robotic technology can also contribute to long-term sustainability with both economic and environmental benets, by minimising the current dependency on chemicals. The aim of this study is to design a small low-cost versatile robot allowing the destruction of weeds that lie between the crop rows by navigating in the eld autonomously and using a minimum of a priori information. For the robot to navigate autonomously, necessary and sufcient information can be supplied by a computer vision system. One important issue with the machine vision is to develop a system that recognises the crop rows accurately and robustly and that is tolerant to problems such as crops at varying growth stages, poor illumination conditions, missing crops, presence of weeds, etc. Aiming at accurate and robust real-time guidance of autonomous robot through the eld, the plethora of image processing algorithms like Ostus threshold method and Hough transform will be explored for two main processes, namely the image segmentation and crop row detection respectively. In order to overcome the issue of large variabilities encountered in agriculture, such as changing weather conditions, intelligent stochastic data fusion and machine learning algorithms will be used in order to combine data from heterogeneous sensors. Besides crop row detection, other major challenges that are foreseen include: mapping the unknown geometry of the eld, high-level planning of efcient and complete coverage of the eld, controlling the low-level operations of the robot, and ensuring security. Specialised sensors such as GPS will be considered to help generating the map of the eld enabling Simultaneous Localisation And Mapping (SLAM) in real time on a mobile platform. The generated map will be exploited along with the sensorial information from crop row detection to efciently plan and execute the guidance of the robot autonomously in the eld, thereby enabling weed elimination.
29
Development of formulated elicitors to control bioagressors of wheat: how?

Geraldine LE MIRE (1), Magali DELEU (2), Marc ONGENA (3), Marie-Laure FAUCONNIER (4), Haissam JIJAKLI (5)
(1) Universit de Lige - Gembloux Agro-BioTech, Phytopathology unit, Gembloux BELGIUM (2) Universit de Lige - Gembloux Agro-BioTech, Department of Industrial and Biological Chemistry, Gembloux BELGIUM (3) Universit de Lige - Gembloux Agro-BioTech, Bio-industries Unit, Gembloux BELGIUM (4) Universit de Lige - Gembloux Agro-BioTech, Department of General and Organic Chemistry, Gembloux BELGIUM (5) Universit de Lige - Gembloux Agro-BioTech, Phytopathology unit, Gembloux BELGIUM Email: geraldine.lemire@ulg.ac.be
Abstract (Poster) Major advancements were made these past decades in disease management research to develop efcient biological control methods. Elicitors are currently considered as one of the most promising tools in agriculture for the induction of plant resistance to various diseases, thereby contributing to the reduction of chemical inputs in agroecosystems. Although some elicitor products are already available on the market, it appears that a variable efciency in the eld, along with an uneasy status in the current legislation and agricultural strategies, make this new biocontrol agent difcult to use. Besides these limitations, few elicitor treatments have yet been efciently and specically designed to protect crop plants such as wheat, which is grown and consumed worldwide, against major diseases threatening both their yield and quality. In that context, a research is currently carried out in Gembloux Agro Bio-Tech (Agriculture is life platform) to develop a method based on eliciting agents, tested in greenhouse and eld conditions, to protect winter wheat against major diseases, namely Septoria tritici, Fusarium graminearum and Fusarium culmorum. This project focuses on (1) the screening of a large number of elicitors from different origins and structures, (2) the determination of the elicitation pathways of the most efcient molecules tested, (3) the study of the inuence of various factors on elicitation potential, (4) the determination of a formulation and a method of application to enhance the product efcacy, and (5) nally the conrmation of their practical efcacy under different systems of production. The advantages and methodology of this project will be described. The rst tests carried out, previously to elicitor screening, consist in efcient infection of wheat plants with the chosen diseases. Developing a good protocol of disease symptom reproduction will indeed be necessary for the subsequent experiments. Future results should offer an interesting contribution to pest management strategies. Keywords: Winter Wheat, Elicitors, Screening, Septoria tritici, Fusarium graminearum, Fusarium culmorum
30
Development of a hybrid LCA model for the wood construction sector in Walloon region
Vanessa Zeller and Marc Degrez
Universit libre de Bruxelles Email: vzeller@ulb.ac.be
Abstract (Oral) Together with the food and transport sector, the building sector is responsible for the highest environmental impacts in the European Union (Tukker and Jansen 2006). Wood-based products and buildings are often proposed as a means to reduce environmental impacts because they contribute less to abiotic resource depletion and they have the potential to store carbon temporary. Processbased life cycle assessment (LCA) is an appropriate tool to analyse environmental impacts of products, but due to the fact that a variety of inputs are excluded, it deals with a systematic truncation error that can lead to an underestimation of environmental impacts. Sector-based LCA models and input-output-based LCA show economic interactions of whole economies and can therefore avoid the problem of system truncation. However, sector-based data often show high economic and geographical aggregation and the availability of environmental information at sector level is limited. Linking process-based and IO-based analysis is generally known as hybrid analysis. The purpose of this work is to develop a regional LCA model for the wood construction sector that considers complete system boundaries and broad environmental extensions. Through the improved database and method, it will be possible to calculate environmental impacts such as global warming potential and resource use at sector level more accurately. The results can help to identify structural bottlenecks of the wood construction sector. Furthermore, it will be possible to compare the sector outputs with other building products and to support priority setting in environmental product policy. The proposed method is a hybrid LCA that requires the following implementation steps: (1) collect primary data from representative wood building products and conduct processLCA (2) create an environmentally extended input-output table and perform an input-output LCA and (3) create a hybrid model and conduct a hybrid LCA. The rst results at sector level (2) show a global warming potential of approximately 169 t CO2-eq. per million EUR average wood product produced in Belgium in 2005. The majority of impacts are related to upstream emissions, for example 27.9 % of greenhouse gases are caused by energy inputs, 14.8 % by transport operations and 9.1 % by chemical products. Only 22.2 % of greenhouse gas emissions are related to the production step. Inputs which are most commonly excluded in process-LCA such as services account for 6.2 %. Comparing the global warming potential of wood products with products from other sectors shows that the wood building sector holds a middle position in the ranking of 60 product groups (place 27). The methodology is further developed for more regionalized assessments.
31
Characterization of fatty acid and carotenoid production in an Acutodesmus microalga isolated from the Algerian Sahara
Borhane Samir Grama (1, 2), Samira Chader (3), Douadi Kheli (1), Ben Stenuit (2), Clayton Jeffryes (2, 4), and Spiros N. Agathos (2)
(1) Laboratory of Genetic Biochemistry and Plant Biotechnology, Faculty of Nature and Life Sciences, Universit Constantine 1, Constantine, Algeria (2) Earth and Life Institute - Bioengineering Laboratory, Universit catholique de Louvain, Place Croix du Sud 2, bte. L07.05.19, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. (3) Algerian Center of Renewable Energy (Centre de Dveloppement des Energies Renouvelables), Unit de Recherche Applique en Energies Renouvelables (U.R.A.E.R.), Ghardaa, Algeria (4) Research Fellow - Fonds de la Recherche - FNRS (Belgium). Email: grama.samir@yahoo.fr
Abstract (Poster) Microalgae are emerging as important cell factories for the production of various commercial products such as carotenoids and fatty acids (FA) and the potential still exists to convert algal lipids into biofuels. Indeed, several species of microalgae have already demonstrated the capacity to accumulate intracellular concentrations of over 50% lipids on a dry cell weight (DCW) basis under species-specic stresses such as nitrate or silicon limitation. An Acutodesmus microalga of the Scenedesmaceae family isolated from the Algerian Sahara was characterized for its ability to produce lipids, fatty acids (FA) and carotenoids under environmental stress conditions that should induce this production. Specically, the combination of osmotic, nutritional and oxidative stress and the interactive effect of light intensity on lipid production and composition during batch growth were investigated. We also examined the recovery of the cell culture after the stress conditions were removed in order to study the feasibility of a reversible, and thus semi-continuous, cultivation process for the production of algal bioproducts. The FA produced by this strain isolated from an environment typied by extreme heat showed a lower degree of unsaturation than those of other Scenedesmus which have been isolated from cold or temperate water environments, with no unsaturated C16 FA and more than 92% of the FA prole being comprised of FA with less than three unsaturated bonds. According to the degree of unsaturation and the cetane number, the FA prole from this strain is applicable to biofuel production. Under the highest lipid production conditions, the fatty acid prole in the present study has a stationary phase degree of unsaturation (DU, 97 2) and predicted cetane number (CN, 55 2), two measures of biodiesel quality, comparable to or better than all readily available vegetable oil sources except for palm. Lipogenesis and carotenogenesis were easily reversible upon removal of the stress. We determined that the principal carotenoid produced by our isolate was canthaxanthin. The production of secondary carotenoids was proportional to the lipid production suggesting that the primary role for secondary carotenogenesis in our isolate is to prevent peroxidation of the lipids within OB. Our results represent a step towards the development of strains suitable for biofuel production at the industrial scale.
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Some Interesting Sources of Plant Seed Oil

Aman Paul (1), Sabine Danthine (1), Christophe Blecker (1), Stephanie Heuskin (2), Georges Lognay (2) and Michel Frederich (3)
(1) Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, Department of Food Science and Formulations, Gembloux, Belgium (2) Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry, Gembloux, Belgium (3) University of Liege, Department of Pharmacy, Liege, Belgium Email: paul.aman@ulg.ac.be
Abstract (Poster) There is a growing realization worldwide that biodiversity is fundamental to agricultural production and food security, as well as a valuable ingredient of environmental conservation. Flowering strips around the border of the crops serves as an important function to improve the biodiversity, besides this they play a major role in the ruminant nutrition and serve as a source of numerous benecial compounds. It is well known that seeds store their food reserves for next generation mainly in the form of lipids; some of the seeds from these owering strips could be an interesting source of lipids. These seed oils could play important role in food, pharmaceutical, cosmetics and other industries. The extraction of seed oil from four such plant species in Belgium namely Oregano (Origanum vulgare), Yellow Bedstraw (Galium verum), Common Self-heal (Prunella vulgaris) and Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) was carried out. Extraction was done by a cold extraction technique using chloroform/methanol in 2:1 ratio as solvent. Amount of oil extracted from Oregano, Yellow Bedstraw, Common Self-heal and Purple loosestrife was 22.580.03 %, 3.280.01 %, 14.840.12 % and 20.320.15 %. The fatty acid proles of these four species were determined by gas chromatography (using methyl esters of their fatty acids); Oleic acid and Linoleic acid were found in all the four species, Gamma-linolenic acid was found in Purple loosestrife and Alpha-linolenic acid was found in Oregano and Common Self-heal plant species. Thermal behaviour of these four plant seed oils were analysed using Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), while some other physicochemical properties of the seed oils were also analyzed. These plant seed oils can be of great commercial importance. Keywords: Flowering Strips, Oil, Physicochemical Properties. For more info visit: www.agricultureislife.be Axis 4- Destiny and valorization of agriculture products Project B- Field border owering strips as a source of food or non-food compounds
Section 3
Innovation in Environmental Engineering

Full-wave modeling of near-eld ground-penetrating radar data for imaging root water uptake dynamics
Mourmeaux Nicolas, Meunier Flicien, Anh Phuong Tran, Lambot Sbastien
Universit catholique de Louvain, Earth and Life Institute, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium Email: nicolas.mourmeaux@uclouvain.Be
Abstract (Oral) Root water uptake dynamics at local scale can be studied in laboratory conditions by growing plants in rhizotron containing sand and by imaging the water content evolution of the medium using light transmission. This technique allows to accurately retrieve the water content with high resolution but cannot be applied in opaque medium as leaf-mold or clay, which is a major limitation for more realistic applications. Recently, ground-penetrating radar (GPR) has proven to be one of the most promising techniques for high-resolution digital soil mapping at intermediate scale. Particularly, by using a full-wave inverse modeling of near-eld GPR with a high frequency antenna, the electrical properties of soil and their correlated water content with high spatiotemporal resolution can be reconstruct. In this study, we applied the approach by using an ultra-wideband frequency-domain radar with a transmitting and receiving horn antenna operating in the frequency range 3-6 GHz for imaging, in near-eld conditions, a rhizotron containing sand subject to different water contents. Synthetic radar data were also generated to examine the well-posedness of the full-waveform inverse problem at high frequencies. Finally, we compared the water content obtained by GPR and light transmission measurements. The results have shown that the near-eld modeled and measured GPR data perfectly match in the frequency and time domain for both dry and wet sand. In the case of dry sand, the estimated water content based on GPR and light transmission data was retrieved with small differences. Indeed, the thinness of the sand layer in the rhizotron involves a biggest inuence of the air in the GPR signal leading to an underestimate value of the water content. This research shows the potential of the GPR system and the near-eld model to accurately estimate the water content of different soils with a high spatial resolution. Future studies will focus on the use of GPR to monitor root water uptake dynamics of plants in several soils systems.
33
34
Non-destructive sensing of tree trunk internal structures and wood properties using microwave radar imaging and full-wave inversion
Laurence Mertens and Sbastien Lambot
Earth and Life Institute, Environmental Sciences, Universit caholique de Louvain, Croix du sud 2, bte L7.05.02, 1348 Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium Email: laurence.mertens@uclouvain.be
Abstract (Oral) Forests cover about 30% of the Earths total land area and ensure essential functions such as providing habitat to 80% of the worlds biodiversity, preventing soil erosion, sequestering carbon within its global cycle, and ensuring vital needs for populations who rely on trees to build houses, make furniture and paper, and produce energy. As a result of a growing population, increasing pressures and threats have been placed on forests, which have been largely depleted by logging and conversion to agriculture. Detecting defects and deteriorations in trees and quantifying the quality of its wood for a particular application are therefore of paramount importance for optimal and sustainable forest management. Knowledge of eventual trunk deterioration also permits preventing tree collapses and is thereby important to assure peoples security, such as, e.g., in public forests or populated areas. In sawmills, due to recent European laws forcing the producers to certify the quality of the construction wood, there are new needs for a quick and cheap way to detects defects (especially knots) in wood logs and characterize wood mechanical properties. Some techniques already exist but are really expensive and not suited for practical applications. The main objective of my PhD research (project SENSWOOD, FRIA/FNRS) is to develop a novel methodology for non-invasive imaging and characterization of standing tree trunks and logs properties based on advanced microwave radar full-wave inverse modeling, thereby providing a rapid monitoring way to detect hidden decays or defects and quantitatively estimate key wood physical properties such as moisture, mechanical resistance or species-related dielectric signature (e.g., for wood origin traceability). The originality of the project lies in the application and adaptation of a new near-eld radar electromagnetic model using intrinsic transfer functions characterizing the global reection and transmission coefcients of the antenna, which has recently shown unprecedented efciency and accuracy for determining soil and material properties. SENSWOOD entails four major challenges: (1) to provide high-resolution and high-quality microwave radar images of tree trunk sections, (2) to adapt the near-eld electromagnetic model to tree structures for quantitative reconstructions to localize and quantify the extent of defects and deteriorations, (3) to derive new relationships between wood electromagnetic properties and physical properties of interest and (4), to validate the developed approaches for actual key cases. This will be realized through numerical, controlled laboratory, and eld experiments. SENSWOOD should result in a new operational method for non-destructive three trunk characterization, thereby allowing scientists to observe information that was not available before and providing the concerned actors with a new tool for improved forest management.
3. Innovation in Environmental Engineering
35
Wildower strips, an alternative to pesticide? A tool for conservation biological control: impact of functional diversity and mowing regime
Sverin Hatt(1), Roel Uyttenbroeck(1), Sarah Garre(1), Bernard Bodson(2), Arnaud Monty(3), Frdric Francis(4)
(1) University of Liege, Gembloux Agro Bio-Tech, AgricultureIsLife, Gembloux, Belgium (2) University of Liege, Gembloux Agro Bio-Tech, Crop Science Unit and Experimental Farm, Gembloux, Belgium (3) University of Liege, Gembloux Agro Bio-Tech, Biodiversity and Landscape Unit, Gembloux, Belgium (4) University of Liege, Gembloux Agro Bio-Tech, Functional and Evolutionary Entomology Unit, Gembloux, Belgium Email: severin.hatt@ulg.ac.be
Abstract (Oral) Biological control methods are to be developed to ecologically limit pests on crops. Among them, ecological infrastructures such as wildower strips are settled to attract natural enemies and parasitoids. The diversity of insects present shall be able to interact and build up trophic relations to nally limit pests on adjacent crops. Flower mixes, studied by researchers or settled by farmers, often present a high ower species diversity. However functional diversity, which means the diversity of ower traits, can be considered because these functional traits are those responsible for the attraction of insects. Moreover, wildower strips are mown to conserve high vegetation diversity as well as to harvest their biomass. But cutting destroys insects shelter and their food resource. Thus it is a necessity to better know how mowing regime affects insect diversity and abundance and therefore their trophic relations. Experiments will take place at the experimental farm of Gembloux Agro Bio-Tech (University of Liege). On a rst one, 4 ower mixes with increasing functional trait diversity (plus one control) will be settled in a 5 x 5 modalities Latin square. This will permit to study how functional trait diversity affects insect diversity, abundance and their trophic relations. Insects will be trapped, identied and food webs will be built. On a second experiment, 3 modalities of mowing will be applied on the 4 ower mixes and the control, this repeated 3 times. Insects will be observed on plants, identied and food webs will also be built. These ower strips have been planted with perennial species in spring 2013. Species diversity and ground covering are dynamic processes that should be followed through time. Therefore, vegetation will be monitored 3 times a year with 1m x 1m quadrats. Our study has among other objectives to better adjust ower mixes for biological pest control. Therefore, crop yield and quality will be measured to assess the efciency of such a method to ecologically manage pests. This PhD work will be of 4 years and experiments will start in spring 2014.
36
Information content in frequency-dependent, multi-offset GPR data for layered media reconstruction using full-wave inversion
Albric De Coster (1), Anh Phuong (1) and Sbastien Lambot (1)
(1) Universit catholique de Louvain, Environmental Sciences - Earth and Life Institute, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium Email: alberic.decoster@uclouvain.be
Abstract (Oral) Water lost through leaks can represent high percentages of the total production in water supply systems and constitutes an important issue. Leak detection can be tackled with various techniques such as the ground-penetrating radar (GPR). Based on this technology, various procedures have been elaborated to characterize a leak and its evolution. In this study, we focus on a new full-wave radar modelling approach for near-eld conditions, which takes into account the antenna effects as well as the interactions between the antenna(s) and the medium through frequency-dependent global transmission and reection coefcients. This approach is applied to layered media for which 3-D Greens functions can be calculated. The model allows for a quantitative estimation of the properties of multilayered media by using full-wave inversion. This method, however, proves to be limited to provide users with an on-demand assessment as it is generally computationally demanding and time consuming, depending on the medium conguration as well as the number of unknown parameters to retrieve. In that respect, we propose two leads in order to enhance the parameter retrieval step. The rst one consists in analyzing the impact of the reduction of the number of frequencies on the information content. For both numerical and laboratory experiments, this operation has been achieved by investigating the response surface topography of objective functions arising from the comparison between measured and modelled data. The second one involves the numerical implementation of multistatic antenna congurations with constant and variable offsets in the model. These two kinds of analyses are then combined in numerical experiments. To perform the numerical analyses, synthetic Greens functions were simulated for different multilayered medium congurations. The results show that an antenna offset increase leads to an improvement in the response surface topography, which is more or less marked according to the initial information content. It also highlights the theoretical possibility of signicantly reducing the number of frequencies without degrading the information content. This last statement is conrmed with the laboratory experiment which incorporates measurements done with a Vivaldi antenna above a medium composed of one or more sand layers characterized by different water contents. As a conclusion, the offset and frequency analyses highlight the great potential of the model for improving the soil parameter retrieval while reducing the computation time for a given antenna(s) medium conguration. Acknowledgments: This work beneted from networking activities carried out within the EU funded COST Action TU1208 "Civil Engineering Applications of Ground Penetrating Radar" and was supported by the Walloon Region through the "SENSPORT" project (Convention n 1217720) undertook in the framework of the WBGreen research program.
List of participants
1. Jean-Baptiste Got, Universit catholique de Louvain (jean-baptiste.got@uclouvain.be) 2. Nicolas Feltz, Universit catholique de Louvain (nicolas.feltz@uclouvain.be) 3. Ouedraogo Issoufou, Universit catholique de Louvain (ouediss6@yahoo.fr) 4. Nadia Sandra Kacem, Centre Wallon de Recherche Agronomique-Gembloux. (kacem.sandra@yahoo.fr) 5. Anh Phuong Tran, Universit catholique de Louvain (phuong.tran@uclouvain.be) 6. Arnaud Watlet, Universit de Mons (arnaud.watlet@umons.ac.be) 7. Lorraine Dewaide, University of Namur (lorraine.dewaide@unamur.be) 8. Nargish Parvin, ULg Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech (nargish.parvin@ulg.ac.be) 9. Thibaut Masy, ULg Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech (tmasy@doct.ulg.ac.be) 10. Sahar Abidi, National Agronomic Institute of Tunis (sahar.abidi@yahoo.fr) 11. Olfa Hajji, National Agronomic Institute of Tunis (olfa.hajji@yahoo.fr) 12. Louise Collier, Universit de Namur (louise.collier@unamur.be) 13. Flicien Meunier, Univerist catholique de Louvain (felicien.meunier@uclouvain.be) 14. Natalia Fernandez de Vera, Universit de Liege (nfdvera@ulg.ac.be) 15. Amal Poulain, Universit de Namur (amael.poulain@unamur.be) 16. Karim Andich, Universit catholique de Louvain (andichkarim@gmail.com) 17. Pablo Borja, Universit catholique de Louvain (mborja77@yahoo.com) 18. Romaike Middendorp, Universit catholique de Louvain (romaike.middendorp@uclouvain.be) 19. Sylvain Trigalet, Universit catholique de Louvain (sylvain.trigalet@uclouvain.be) 20. Krystian Miazek, ULg - Gembloux Agro-BioTech (kmiazek@ulg.ac.be) 21. Sruthi Moorthy Krishna Moorthy Parvathi, ULg - Gembloux Agro-BioTech (sruthimoorthy.krishnamoorthyparvathi@ulg.ac.be) 22. Geraldine Le Mire, ULg - Gembloux Agro-BioTech (geraldine.lemire@ulg.ac.be) 23. Vanessa Zeller, Universit libre de Bruxelles (vzeller@ulb.ac.be) 24. Borhane Samir Grama, Universit catholique de Louvain (grama.samir@yahoo.fr) 37
38
25. Aman Paul, ULg - Gembloux Agro-BioTech (paul.aman@ulg.ac.be) 26. Nicolas Mourmeaux, Universit catholique de Louvain (nicolas.mourmeaux@uclouvain.Be) 27. Laurence Mertens, Universit catholique de Louvain (laurence.mertens@uclouvain.be) 28. Sverin Hatt, ULg - Gembloux Agro-BioTech (severin.hatt@ulg.ac.be) 29. Albric De Coster, Universit catholique de Louvai (alberic.decoster@uclouvain.be)

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Graduate School on Environmental Sciences, Technologies and Management (ENVITAM)

Proceedings of the ENVITAM PhD Student Day 2014

March 5, 2014 Universit catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

Editor: Sbastien Lambot

Program of the Day

Water and Environment

Proceedings ENVITAM PhD Day 2014

1. Water and Environment

Groundwater pressure mapping in Africa

Proceedings ENVITAM PhD Day 2014

1. Water and Environment

Proceedings ENVITAM PhD Day 2014

1. Water and Environment

Proceedings ENVITAM PhD Day 2014

1. Water and Environment

Rhodococcus erythropolis, a good candidate for an in-situ bioaugmentation starter.

Proceedings ENVITAM PhD Day 2014

1. Water and Environment

Proceedings ENVITAM PhD Day 2014

1. Water and Environment

Water uptake efciency of a maize plant - A simulation case study

Proceedings ENVITAM PhD Day 2014

1. Water and Environment

Proceedings ENVITAM PhD Day 2014

1. Water and Environment

Towards Sustainable Agroecosystems

Proceedings ENVITAM PhD Day 2014

2. Towards Sustainable Agroecosystems

Proceedings ENVITAM PhD Day 2014

2. Towards Sustainable Agroecosystems

Development of formulated elicitors to control bioagressors of wheat: how?

Proceedings ENVITAM PhD Day 2014

2. Towards Sustainable Agroecosystems

Proceedings ENVITAM PhD Day 2014

Some Interesting Sources of Plant Seed Oil

Innovation in Environmental Engineering

Proceedings ENVITAM PhD Day 2014

3. Innovation in Environmental Engineering

Proceedings ENVITAM PhD Day 2014

Proceedings ENVITAM PhD Day 2014

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