General
- Chair of Biodiversity and Nature Tourism
- Chair of Economics in Rural Economy
- Chair of Environmental Protection and Landscape Management
- Chair of Horticulture
- Chair of Hydrobiology and Fisheries
- Chair of Landscape Architecture
- Chair of Plant and Crop Science
- Chair of Plant Health
- Chair of Soil Science
- Polli Horticultural Research Centre
- Rõhu Experimental Centre
International Conference
27–28 August 2012, Tartu, Estonia
Humus forms and biologically active compounds as indicators of pedodiversity
Second announcement
The conference is held on the occasion of 10 years of scientific collaboration between the Institute for Agricultural and Forest Environment (IAFE, Poznan) and the Estonian University of Life Sciences (EMÜ, Tartu) on soil organic matter research.
Thematic scope
The content and distribution of organic matter in the soil profile, its composition and functioning is soil-type and site specific. Currently, a lot of data on humus concentration, pools, quality, cycling and ecology is available for most soil types. The pedodiversity of natural areas, which is basically the heritage of geological and hydrological diversity, is always more or less influenced by the flux of falling debris on or into the soil and by its transformation due to the activity of soil organisms. The interrelationship of bio- and geo-components in ecosystems is reflected in the structure of the topsoil and its humus form (epipedon or humus cover type). The activity of soil organisms may be determined on the basis of their life traces and products. Therefore, the conference is focused on humus forms and biologically active compounds of soils.
Main conference topics are:
- Ecological and indicative aspects of humus forms
- Biologically active compounds in soil and methods of their determination
- Kinetics of soil organic matter decomposition and transformation
- Spatial-temporal patterns of soil organic matter accumulation and functioning
- Soil-type specific organic matter fabric, composition and turnover
- Classification and taxonomy of soil organic matter and humus forms.
The conference addresses primarily researches on pedo-climatic conditions in Northern and Central Europe. Studies may cover a wide range of land uses (arable, forest, grassland), soil types (from mineral to organic soils) and properties (texture, moisture regime, acidity, calcareousness and others). As the program is focused mainly on studies of organic matter influx and its transformation in the soil, research on gas emissions from soil (or outflux) is not included into the list of conference topics.
The official language of the conference is English.
Preliminary program (download pdf)
Call for presentations and publications
Proposals for presentations can be transmitted online via the registration form of the conference website, where the title and the preferred kind of presentation (oral or poster) should be mentioned. Abstracts of accepted oral and poster presentations will be published in the Book of abstracts. Abstracts and presentations should be prepared and presented in English. Submission of abstracts with a maximum length of 300 words is requested for both oral and poster presentations. Abstracts must be submitted by e-mail: soil@emu.ee as a file in the .rtf or .doc format. Please use for abstract preparation the following template (download template here).
Publication of conference materials
The selected presentations will be published as full papers in a special issue of the Estonian Journal of Ecology (http://www.kirj.ee/ecology). Call for full manuscripts will be based on accepted presentations and abstracts. The submitted manuscripts should meet the requirements of the journal given to its authors (http://www.kirj.ee/11344). Manuscripts can be given to Raimo Kõlli during the conference or submitted electronically by e-mail (raimo.kolli@emu.ee).
Registration fee
Full fee 225 €, PhD students 125 € (deadline 15.06.2012). For late payment full fee is 275 € and 175 € for PhD students. Payment details will be sent directly to registered participants by e-mail.
Fee includes: admission to sessions, booklet of abstracts, coffee breaks, 2 lunches, dinner on 27.08.2012, scientific excursion on 28.08.2012.
Organizers
The conference will be organized by the Department of Soil Science and Agrochemistry, Estonian University of Life Sciences, in collaboration with the Institute for Agricultural and Forest Environment, Polish Academy of Sciences, and the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Tallinn (Estonia).
Organizing committee: Alar Astover, Tõnu Tõnutare, Helis Rossner, Liia Kukk, Karin Kauer, Kaire Rannik, Indrek Tamm.
Scientific committee
Raimo Kõlli (Estonia, Tartu), Lech Szajdak (Poland, Poznan), Ulfert Graefe (Germany, Hamburg), Alar Astover (Estonia, Tartu).
Location
The conference will be held at Conference centre “Dorpat”, Tartu, Estonia (http://www.dorpat.ee/Conference).
Accommodation
Participants are requested to book accommodation by themselves. Accommodation is not included in the participation fee. Follow this link to see a list of hotels in Tartu. The conference is taking place at the conference centre of the hotel “Dorpat”, but other hotels are also within walking distance to the conference venue.
Travel
By plane
-Tartu Airport
There are direct flights to Tartu from Helsinki, route is operated by Flybe (www.flybe.com). Timetable and information about Tartu Airport can be found: www.tartu-airport.ee
-Tallinn Airport
More direct flights are available to Tallinn airport. Information about flights to Tallinn Airport is available: www.tallinn-airport.ee
By bus
From the Tallinn coach station busses depart to Tartu approximately every hour, from 5 a.m. to midnight. The ride from Tallinn to Tartu takes about 2.5 hours. Timetable by departure from Tallinn can be found: www.bussireisid.ee
Tourist information
http://www.visittartu.com/
Important dates and deadlines (Attention! Some dates are postponed)
30.04.2012 Submission of registration form (on web-site) and abstracts
22.05.2012 Notification of accepted abstracts and updated program
15.06.2012 Early payment of registration fee
14.09.2012 Submission of full papers
Contact
E-mail: soil@emu.ee; conference secretary Karin Kauer
Tel: +372 7313546
Fax: +372 7313539
Web: http://pk.emu.ee/en/structure/soilscience/conference/