As part of Erwan Le Roux’s thesis, co-supervised by Stéphane Bazot (ESE Univ Orsay) and Nathalie Korboulewsky, a measurement campaign and soil sampling on a selection of OPTMix plots (O12 low density open and closed) and Renecofor (inside and outside the enclosure) is carried out until July. The measurements on O12 were made at the end of May with soil compaction measurements (with the “Clegg hammer”) and soil respiration on the same soil samples transects as Claire Populus thesis’s last year. Soil samples will be used to determine soil microbial diversity and mineral nitrogen. The compaction results are immediate and we observed a more compact soil in the open plot vs. the closed one (47 vs. 36 Gm units, n=41/plot, significant difference). We will never know if this is due to the 4 legs or 2 legs animals, but given the simplicity and ease of this device, it makes you want to make measurements in the other plots.
