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International audience; The challenges of securing future food security will require deployment of innovative technologies to accelerate crop production. Plant phenotyping methods have advanced significantly, spanning low-cost hand-held devices to large-scale satellite imaging. Field-based phenotyping aims to capture plant response to the environment, generating data that can be used to inform breeding and selection requirements. This in turn requires access to multiple representative locations and capacities for collecting useful information. In this paper we identify the current challenges in access to field phenotyping in multiple locations in Europe based on stakeholder feedback. We present a map of current infrastructure and propose opportunities for greater integration of existing facilities for meeting different user requirements. We also review the currently available technology and data requirements for effective multi-location field phenotyping and provide recommendations for ensuring future access and coordination. Taken together we provide an overview of the current status of European field phenotyping capabilities and provides a roadmap for their future use to support crop improvement. This provides a wider framework for the analysis and planning of field phenotyping activities for crop improvement worldwide.

This article is based upon work from COST Action CA17134 Optical synergies for spatiotemporal SENsing of Scalable ECOphysiological traits (SENSECO), supported by COST. It was supported by European Plant Phenotyping Network (EPPN2020: Grant Agreement 731013), from EMPHASIS-PREP (Grant Agreement: 739514), from EOSC-Life (Grant Agreement: 824087). KB was funded within the EnMAP scientific preparation program (DLR Space and BMWi, Grant Number 50EE1923).

Quantitative analysis of structure and function of plants has become the major bottleneck in basic plant research and applied use of plants in breeding or agricultural management. This is particularly important for sustainable intensification of crop production to ensure the amount and quality of plant biomass for human nutrition and industry in times of climate change. In recent years, significant interdisciplinary approaches have been started to establish plant phenotyping infrastructure with non-invasive methods that allow to quickly and non-invasively assessing the condition and properties of plants in the laboratory, greenhouse or field, make these data accessible through data and computational services and allow data reuse for meta-analysis or modelling.In this presentation, we will outline the recent developments to integrate plant phenotyping across scales from lab to field including common data management approaches. The ESFRI research infrastructure EMPHASIS is developing a pan European infrastructure based of the portfolio of existing national plant phenotyping centers. The goal is to: i) provide a instrumented facilities for user access for quantitative trait assessment, ii) link data acquisition with data management and modelling, iii) develop, evaluate and disseminate knowledge and novel technologies. We will showcase phenotyping of quantitative traits under controlled and specifically field conditions providing novel inside on plant environment interaction for example in dedicated free air CO2 enrichment facilities and illustrate the development of pan-European information system making these data reusable. Finally, we will introduce the latest activities of IPPN e.V. is a networking platform linking the plant phenotyping centers and enabling close interaction across the globe.

Constraints on hypolimnetic methane production in productive lakes are of interest owing to the importance of methane emissions from lakes for the atmospheric methane burden. We studied carbon fluxes and terminal electron accepting processes in the hypolimnion of eutrophic Meerfelder Maar, Germany. Carbon fluxes from epilimnion and sediments were estimated using sediment traps, porewater analysis and incubation techniques. The contribution of various redox processes to overall dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) production was quantified from a seasonal hypolimnetic mass balance. Carbon sedimentation rates were 22 mmol m−2 d−1 from the epilimnion and 20–34 mmol m−2 d−1 from the hypolimnion. Anaerobic respiration accounted for a DIC production of 21 mmol m−2 d−1, and was thus capable of using a substantial part of primary production. The diffusive C flux from the sediment was small in comparison, although potential respiration rates in incubation experiments reached 63 – 75 mmol m−2 d−1. Ebullition of methane occurred, but could not be quantified. Following depletion of dissolved oxygen (DO) and nitrate, iron and sulphate reduction and methanogenesis proceeded concurrently in the hypolimnion. Estimated hypolimnetic DIC production decreased in the order methanogenesis (2267 mmol m−2) > oxic respiration (880 mmol m−2) > sulphate reduction (575mmolm−2) > denitrification (159 mmol m−2) > acetogenesis (157 mmol m−2) > iron reduction (19 – 144 mmol m−2). Methane production thus dominated respiration and was not inhibited by sulphate and iron reduction. It also strongly accelerated with increased carbon sedimentation rates in September, which apparently eased limiting factors on the process. Hypolimnetic methane production is thus likely an important process in similar lakes, even in the presence of other electron acceptors, and will contribute to methane emissions during fall turnover.

The hypothesis is tested if changes in electric conductivity of groundwater (EC) in response to gaseous CO 2 intrusion are sufficient to be detected using probe measurements and geophysical electromagnetic measurements, e.g. airborne electromagnetic measurements. Virtual reactive scenario modelling is used to simulate the effects of the presence of calcite, CO 2 intrusion rates, depth of the aquifer formation, initial salinity of groundwater and CO 2 intrusion time on changes in EC. In all simulations, EC rises rapidly in response to CO 2 intrusion, however in different magnitudes. When calcite is present, EC changes are strong (+1.11 mS/cm after 24 hours of CO 2 intrusion) mainly due to calcite dissolution, whereas in aquifers without calcite changes are very low (+0.02 mS/cm after 24 hours) and close to the resolution range of probes. Increased depth (250 m / 500 m), i.e. higher temperature and pressure, and higher intrusion rates (up to full saturation) result in stronger rises in EC (+5.08 mS/cm in 500 m depth and 100 % saturation), and initial salinity has a negligible influence on changes in EC. Temporally limited CO 2 intrusion leads to EC values close to pre- CO 2 -intrusion-levels in the long-term. Measurement resolution of commercial EC probes is sufficient to detect CO 2 intrusion in almost all cases. In terms of geophysical electromagnetic measurements, applications in the field of monitoring saltwater-freshwater interfaces indicate a sufficient measurement resolution to detect changes in all simulations. However, practical limitations are expected due to the dependence of measurement resolutions on the applied measurement devices and site-specific geological settings.