MisTigation final meeting

Launched in 2023 and supported by ADEME, this project funded Emilie Skowron’s internship along with the PhD theses of Shehryar Iqbal and Antoine André. Its objectives were to define the ecosystem services provided by miscanthus and to better understand how this plant interacts with its environment.

How does the plant mobilize the resources at its disposal? What impacts does it have on its environment? How will it respond to new climatic conditions? These are all key questions for a crop established for at least twenty years.

This final in-person meeting will bring together researchers from INRAE, Junia, and Novabiom. Discussions will be organized around four main topics:

• The ecosystem services provided by miscanthus (provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural services)
• Its nitrogen management, especially its ability to remobilize nitrogen in autumn and spring through its rhizome, allowing cultivation without fertilization. Added to this is its capacity to absorb nitrates, a crucial feature in water catchment areas overloaded with nitrates
• The plant’s response—and the fate of unrecycled nitrogen—under increased temperature and atmospheric CO₂ concentration, studied using the Gembloux Ecotron
• The project’s deliverables, presented by project leader Maryse Hulmel

Much of the project’s results are already available in the “Our publications” section, but stay tuned for the final report!