Two years Postdoctoral position in Soil Organic Carbon stocks modeling The INRA (Institut national de la recherche agronomique) Infosol unit based in Orléans, is seeking a highly motivated and reliable postdoc fellow who will work on biogeochemical modeling, to predict soil organic carbon stock changes in French agricultural soils. The proposed position is part of the Csopra project (see description on the next page) recently funded by ADEME within the REACCTIF project call, with a focus on estimating the impact of agricultural management in croplands, on the soil organic carbon dynamics and derive reference values for national GHG inventories. The project will involve applying Biochemical models on datasets from i) a long term experiment database and ii) from the French soil monitoring network. Requirements Applicants should have completed a Ph.D. in Agriculture, Ecology, Soil Science, or a closely related field. The successful candidate must have excellent oral and written communication skills in English, and be able to work both independently and in collaboration with other researchers. It is required to have experience working in laboratory/field work, computer programing to facilitate data management and analysis in GIS context, as well as biogeochemical modeling (e.g., Century, Daycent, RothC, ECOSSE…). Model development and implementation is highly preferable. Tasks will include, but not limited to: · Literature search and compilation of crop and soil emission parameters · Model parameterization and validation · statistical analysis of large simulation outputs and uncertainty analyses · Comparisons and evaluation of methodologies for GHG emission accounting · Writing manuscripts The postdoc work will be supervised by Manuel Martin (Infosol-Orléans) in close collaboration with Bruno Mary (INRA AgroImpact) and Bertrand Guenet (LCSE). Interested applicants should send a cover letter, CV (please also list publications, scientific presentations and analytical and programming skills), and the names/contact information for three references by email. Review of applications will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled. Duration: two years Salary: Between 1875 and 2157 €/month, net of charges depending on experience. An additional grant might be obtained through application to the Agreenskills programme (http://www.agreenskills.eu/) Location: INRA InfoSol Unit, Orléans, France Starting date: December 1st, 2014 to January 1st, 2015 => For more information and (manuel.martin(at)orleans.inra.fr).

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Csopra (2014-2017) Methodologies for accounting for soil organic carbon changes resulting from agricultural management Project coordinator: Manuel Martin INRA-Infosol; Project Partners: Marion Bardy, Benoît Toutain, Nicolas Saby, INRA-Infosol; INRA-ASTER, Catherine Mignolet; ARVALIS, Alain Bouthier; CITEPA, Etienne Mathias; CNRS-CEA-UVSQ, Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement; Bertrand Guenet; INRA-AgroClim, Frédéric Huard; INRA-AgroImpact, Bruno Mary; Agro-TransferRessources et Territoires, Annie Duparque; LDAR (Laboratoire Départemental d’Analyses et de Recherche de l’Aisne), Stéphanie Sagot Project summary Carbon stocks of agricultural soils can be managed through appropriate choices of agricultural practices such as the use of organic amendments, management of crop residues, the introduction of intermediate crops or plants "services". In the short term, the European Union will require the integration of land management in the carbon accounting and commits member states to include the effect of management practices within their greenhouse gas inventories. This project aims to provide tools to meet these objectives for croplands, at various scales. The proposed approach is innovative first because of the nature of the involved data sets, and second because of the association of various accounting methods. The project is structured around five main objectives: 1. Building a database related to cultivated soils, both from the French Soil Monitoring Network (RMQS) and from experimental monitoring sites. This datasets cover a wide range of agricultural practices, farming systems, and climatic and soil conditions. This database will be compatible with selected accounting methods. 2. Evaluating several accounting methods available, including AMG, Century and Orchidee models, and TIer1 methods, on the past period (from 1980 to present time). 3. Improved treatment of the uncertainty related to the different accounting methods resulting at the different considered scales (from the level of the measurement site up to the national level). 4. Defining guidelines for the application of the accounting methods on a national scale and proposals for estimating the effect of middle term management changes on soil organic carbon stocks. 5. Dissemination of source data and results within the scientific community (as web-services, academic articles and presentations at scientific conferences) but also to stakeholders and professionals agricultural sector in France.