Annotation
The laboratory course will focus on the biological properties of soils and modern analytical methods. The stress will be put especially on the activity of soil biota which will be determined as carbon dioxide (CO2) production measured on a gas chromatograph and decomposition process using CO2 production from the decomposed substrate and use of litter bags.
Thanks to stable isotopes, the priming effect of labile substrates on organic matter decomposition will be assessed. Also, methods on microbial biomarkers such as phospholipid fatty acids will be included which are useful to determine the proportion of bacterial and fungal abundance.