An experimental research infrastructure dedicated to the study of ecosystems, organisms and biodiversity in the context of environmental changes. The Ecotron is a laboratory of the Institute of Ecology and Environment (CNRS) open to national and international scientists’ consortia in the fields of ecology, population and community biology and agronomy. The Ecotron allows a precise conditioning of the environment and on line measurements of states and activities (fluxes) of organisms and ecosystems at various scales. This facility bridges the gap between the complexity of in natura studies and the simplicity of laboratory experiments. The research topics to be addressed in the Ecotron include fundamental questions about biogeochemical cycles and the role of biodiversity in ecosystem processes, but tests of ecological theories as well as the applied aspects of optimizing ecosystem services are also desirable projects. http://www.ecotron.cnrs.fr/index.php/en/

The site comprises three distincts experimental set-ups: (1) a long-term (>10 years) partial throughfall exclusion experiment replicated three times and crossed with a thinning (-30% basal area) experiment aimed at simulating long-term precipitation decrease in accordance with climate change scenario for the Mediterranean area (-30% of precipitation), (2) a total rainfall exclusion experiment using a mobile roof has been set up to simulate extreme drought events and modify precipitation seasonality, and (3) an eddy-covariance flux tower running continuously since 2001 to measure seasonal variations in ecosystem functioning and year-to-year flux responses to drought and climate.

Each site has three common treatments: a control (C), a compacted treatment (T), a compacted and decompacted treatment (D), and more specific ones, locally decompacted soil (P) at Azerailles 54, and, limed (A) and limed and compacted (CA) at Clermont en Argonne 55. Each treatment plot of 0.25ha is replicated three times (3 blocks). Azerailles site was installed in spring 2007 and Clermont in spring 2008. Since that time monitoring occured for: -mesoclimate: rainfall, air temperature, relative humidity, bulk deposition (continuous recording) - soil climate: soil moisture (TDR Trase system (5 replicates at 15 and 60 cm depth) in one replicate of C and T (recorded each four hours) - water table: 2 piezometers in each replicate of treatments (Divers hourly recorded); monthly sampling using specific devices for Redox problems - weakly fixed soil water: cup lysimeters inserted at 15 and 60 cm depth (4 replicates in one block for C and T treatments) + teatments A and CA at Clermont en Argonne. Automate for constant vacuum at 700hP. Monthly collection for chemical analysis - soil gas: specific captors installed at 5, 10, 20, 35, 50 and 70 cm depth in each C and T treatments of the 3 blocks in the 2 sites. Monthly collection for chemical analysis (N, CO2, CH4, N2O, O2) -soil solid phase: soil morphology, soils physics, chemistry and biology (pro parte) were initialy described. Soil physical parameters (strengh, bulk density, hydraulic conductivity, swelling/shrinkage, porosity...), chemistry (C, N, exchangeable cations, P) and biology (earthworms) are perediodicaly investigated (each year for physics; 2/3 years for chemistry and biology). vegetation: both understorey and oak plantation were annually observed soil biology: earthworms are periodically observed

The site of EFELE (Effluents d’Elevage et Environnement) is part of the french network labeled as SOERE PRO. The objectives of EFELE are the same as QualiAgro and Colmar sites : the aim of the project is to characterize the long term effects of organic products applications on soil properties and to quantify their effects on water and air quality. The experimental site was initiated in 2012 and is located in Brittany, at Le Rheu. The soil is a loamy soil (neoluvisol à luvisol/redoxisol). The field is managed with a maize/ wheat crop rotation, and white mustard is sown after the wheat to cover the soil during the intercropping period. Two trials are studied at EFELE site : - A first trial named « PROs » is structured as a complete randomized block design with 4 replicates. The effects of 5 typical animal wastes are compared to control treatments : i) cattle farmyard manure and composted pig manure are applied every 2 years before maize sowing, and ii) layers manure, pig slurry and a digestate obtained after pig slurry digestion are applied in spring, on wheat vegetation at early spring or just before maize sowing. The rates of application range from 50 t ha-1 for cattle manure, 25 t ha-1 for composted pig manure, 20-25 t ha-1 for the slurry and the digestate and 3 t ha-1 for layers manure, - A second trial named « TS/MO » is structured as a band trial with 3 replicates. The objectives of this trial are to study the effects of cattle farmyard manure on soil properties under conventional tillage and reduced tillage. The meteorological data are monitored on the site, and 7 experimental plots are equipped with TDR probes (TRASE system), tensiometers (UMS T4e) and temperature probes placed at the depth of 13, 40, 60, 80 and 110 cm. Data are collected at a hourly time step. 10 plots are also equipped with wick lysimeters (0.25 x 0.50 m) placed at the depth of 40 and 90 cm. The monitoring of N2O and CO2 emission is done by a set of 6 automatics chambers. The soil surface layer (0-25 cm) is sampled every year before the animal wastes application, to characterize the evolution of the physical, biological and chemical properties. Soil, plant and animal wastes samples are kept in collection.

The Barbeau research facility is located in a 33-ha forest located nearby the Fontainebleau forest. Barbeau is a mature sessile Oak stand with a Hornbeam understory. Since 2005, a monitoring facility has continuously been measuring : - the exchanges of carbon and water vapour between the forest ecosystem and the atmosphere (through the eddy covariance (EC) methodology, installed at the top of a 35-m “flux” tower, and through organ-scale photosynthesis and respiration set-ups; 30-min time step) - the atmosphere and forest microclimates (above and within the canopy, including incoming, absorbed and reflected radiations in several spectral bands, temperatures, humidity; 30-min time step) - key variables for understanding forest functioning (e.g. tree diameter / biomass growth and soil water content on a hourly to weekly basis, tree organs nutrient contents on a seasonal basis, leaf area index on an annual basis etc.) The instruments are co-located in a 2500-m² fenced area. However, the monitored “footprints” of sole instruments ranges from a few cm3soil (e.g. measurements of soil temperature) up to hectares (e.g. integrated measurements of co2 and h2o exchanges with the EC method). Beside this ensemble of continuously monitored variables, spatial surveys of the stand characteristics (e.g. tree growth, soil properties and C/N contents, soil respiration, leaf area) and large-scale experiments (e.g. 13C-enriched CO2 labelling) are regularly conducted in Barbeau.

The site of Colmar is part of the French national network SOERE PRO (System of Observation and Experimentation for Environmental Research on Organic Residue Recycling). The objectives of the site of Colmar are to characterize the agronomic value of organic residues and their environmental impacts, in a long-term field experiment. It has been initiated in 2001 (INRA / SMRA68 / ADEME / Agence de l’Eau Rhin-Meuse partnership). The experimental site is located in Colmar (Alsace, France) with a continental climate. The soil is a calcisoil (surface layer: 24% clay, 69% silt, 7% sand / 2.4 % organic matter / pH 8.3). The trial is composed of 60 plots of 90 m² (10 m x 9 m) on 2.2 hectares with 4 replicate blocks of 6 organic treatments randomly distributed within each block: Urban sewage sludge, Composted sewage sludge, Biowaste compost, Farmyard manure, Composted Farmyard manure, Control without organic amendment. The organic amendments are spread every 2 years on the same nitrogen rate of 170 kg/ha. The different treatments received 2 levels of additional mineral fertilizer: without or optimum mineral fertilization. The crops rotation is corn maize / winter wheat / sugar beet / malting barley. Site and plots are equipped for continuous monitoring of meteorological data, soil humidity, water tension and temperature. One plot of each treatment is equipped with wick lysimeters to a depth of 0.45 m. Since 2009, six large lysimeters (4m² and 1m deep, bare soil) complete the field experiment, with 2 replicates of 3 organic treatments: Urban sewage sludge, Composted sewage sludge and Control without organic amendment. They are also equipped to measure the hydrodynamic balance: soil humidity, water tension, temperature, volume of leachate. A Large set of variables mainly including nutrients and pollutants (trace elements, PAH, PCB), are monitored on different compartments of the agro-system: organic amendments physico-chemical and biochemical characteristics, soils analytical characteristics per layer, crop yields, plants quality, rainwater chemical composition, leachate, microbial biomass and activities. Data will be stored in a common database specifically developed for the SOERE PRO network and connected with other SOERE. Soils, organic amendments and plants samples are kept in collection and available for further measurements.

Aims and Philosophy of the CoffeeFlux Collaborative Platform The aim of Coffee-Flux is to assess carbon, nutrients, water and sediment Ecosystem Services (ES) at the scale of a coffee agroforestry watershed and additional experiments. Observation, experimentation, modelling and remote-sensing are combined, collecting data and calibrating models locally, then upscaling to larger regions. The project has been running continuously since 2009, in order to encompass seasonal and inter-annual fluctuations of coffee productivity and ecosystem services. Coffee-flux is a platform where collaborative research on coffee agroforestry is promoted: data are being shared between collaborators and positive interactions are enhanced. The philosophy is to concentrate several investigations on one specific site and for several years, to share a useful common experimental database, to develop modelling and to publish results in highly-ranked scientific journals. Applied research is also highly encouraged (e.g. C-Neutral certification, NAMA, Agronomy, etc.). Coffee-Flux benefits from infrastructure, easy access from CATIE and very good security, ready to welcome complementary scientific investigations and collaborations. The project is wide open to complementary projects, scientists and of course to students. The core data base is for sharing.

Rubberflux is a flux tower site aiming at providing a complete picture of CO2, water and energy budget of a rubber tree plantation using the eddy-covariance (EC) method combined with ground-based measurements of carbon/water stocks and flux among the different components of the ecosystem. This approach allows quantifying flux (NEE an ETR), partitioning them among tree organs, soil, understorey vegetation (etc.…), and eventually understanding the interactions with climate and the availability of soil resources (water, nutrients). This is a common approach to 3 other flux tower sites on tropical tree plantations managed by CIRAD’s researchers within the umbrella of the SOERE F-ORE-T network. The Rubberflux site is located in Thailand, about 140km east of Bangkok. It was set-up in 2006 in a 12 years rubber plantation of the Chachoengsao Rubber Research Centre (CRRC), a research facility of the Rubber Research Institute of Thailand (RRIT). The collaboration with CRRC staff has also permitted to implement studies on a chronosequence of rubber plantations. A CIRAD’s researcher has been permanently based in Thailand since then to ensure the functioning of the site in collaboration with the staff of CRRC and a research team from Kasetsart University (KU). The research works conducted on the Rubberflux site have been funded by CIRAD and KU with substantial contribution of the Thai Research Fund (TRF), the SOERE FORET and the French Embassy in Thailand.

The Estrées-Mons platform is dedicated to arable crops. It evaluates the effect of agricultural practices on C and N cycles in the soil-plant system and their interaction. Nitrate leaching, SOM evolution and GHG emissions (CO2, N2O) are monitored according to level of N intensification, crop residues export, soil tillage and legume frequency. The key issue is to understand how the wide variation in C and N inputs affects C and N cycles in more or less intensified systems.

The Lusignan platform is dedicated to temporary grassland. It has been designed to increase our understanding of the effects of management of mixed arable crops / grasslands systems on the environmental outputs. The main scientific issue concerns the effects of grassland duration and management on SOM dynamics (quantity and composition), GHG emissions (CO2, N2O), nutrient lixiviation and functional biodiversity.