Iris Chardon

Iris Chardon

Research assistant

Bezoekadres

Droevendaalsesteeg 10
6708 PB Wageningen

+31 (0) 317 47 34 00

The Netherlands

Netwerk

Over

Chemistry is all around us! With my background in chemistry I assist in ecological research wherever I can.

Biografie

Since the end of 2011, Iris Chardon (1987) works as a research assistant within the Netherlands Institute of Ecology.

One of her main drivers is developing and/or optimising analytical methods, gaining and transferring knowledge, and thereby contributing to the development of others. Besides that, she is involved in research projects.

In February 2019, she started as a research assistant within the TTW project ‘SmartResidue’, together with Paul Bodelier, Stijn van den Bergh, Gerard Korthals and Wietse de Boer. The project aims to lower the greenhouse gas emission by turning agricultural soils into sinks of methane after application of bio-based residues. The mechanisms of this residue stimulated methane uptake will be investigated and field trials will be performed to optimize the effect and to engineer residues and their mode of application for optimal performance in agricultural practice. Iris her tasks include field screenings, microbiological work, chemical and physical analyses and molecular assays.

Before she started working in the ‘SmartResidue’ project, her main responsibilities were the chemical analyses of soil, sediment and plant samples, which she performed mostly for the departments Microbial Ecology and Terrestrial Ecology. She advised (PhD-) students and (postdoctoral) researchers about the choice of the analyses and she gave them instructions for performing extractions or destructions. Afterwards, she analyzed the samples with ICP-OES, a TOC-analyser, LC-MSMS, AutoAnalyser or with an Element Analyser. She processed the data and reported them to the scientist. Furthermore, she analyzed data of unknown volatile organic compounds (VOC’s) measured with GC-QTOF.

Feel free to visit her LinkedIn page for more information: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ichardon/

2021 - fieldwork in Zurich
Femke van Beersum
greenhouse gas sampling in Zurich, Switzerland (2021)
2022 - explaining GC to King Willem-Alexander
Milette Raats
Explaining GC-measurement to King Willem-Alexander (2022)

Onderzoeksgroepen

CV

Employment

  • 2021–Present
    Member of Research Integrity Advisory Board
  • 2019–Present
    Research Assistant TTW-project SmartResidue
  • 2011–2019
    Research Assistant Chemical Lab

Publicaties

Peer-reviewed publicaties

  • Waste Management
    01-10-2023

    The intrinsic methane mitigation potential and associated microbes add product value to compost

    Stijn van den Bergh, Iris Chardon, Marion Meima-Franke, Ohana Costa, Gerard Korthals, Wietse de Boer, Paul Bodelier
    Conventional agricultural activity reduces the uptake of the potent greenhouse gas methane by agricultural soils. However, the recently observed improved methane uptake capacity of agricultural soils after compost application is promising but needs mechanistic understanding. In this study, the methane uptake potential and microbiomes involved in methane cycling were assessed in green compost and household-compost with and without pre-digestion. In bottle incubations of different composts with both high and near-atmospheric methane concentrations (∼10.000 & ∼10 ppmv, respectively), green compost showed the highest potential methane uptake rates (up to 305.19 ± 94.43 nmol h−1 g dw compost−1 and 25.19 ± 6.75 pmol h−1 g dw compost−1, respectively). 16S, pmoA and mcrA amplicon sequencing revealed that its methanotrophic and methanogenic communities were dominated by type Ib methanotrophs, and more specifically by Methylocaldum szegediense and other Methylocaldum species, and Methanosarcina species, respectively. Ordination analyses showed that the abundance of type Ib methanotrophic bacteria was the main steering factor of the intrinsic methane uptake rates of composts, whilst the ammonium content was the main limiting factor, being most apparent in household composts. These results emphasize the potential of compost to contribute to methane mitigation, providing added value to compost as a product for industrial, commercial, governmental and public interests relevant to waste management. Compost could serve as a vector for the introduction of active methanotrophic bacteria in agricultural soils, potentially improving the methane uptake potential of agricultural soils and contributing to global methane mitigation, which should be the focus of future research.
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2023.07.027

Projecten & samenwerkingen

Projecten

  • SmartResidue

    Project 2019–2023
    This project will investigate residue-stimulated atmospheric methane oxidation, and aims to elucidate its occurrence in field conditions, responsible microorganisms, underlying mechanisms and controlling factors.
    Sampling compost
  • Clever Cover cropping. Synergistic Mixtures for Sustainable Soils

    Project 2015–2020
    Since recently, Dutch farmers are required to grow cover crops in mixtures of at least two plant species.
    In the Clever Cropping Project we investigated whether mixtures of cover crops have beneficial effects on soil microbiology and associated functions.
    In long-term field experiments and laboratory incubations, we assessed emissions of greenhouse gasses and the diversity, abundance, and activity of microbial groups involved in environmentally relevant processes.
    While in laboratory incubations we could clearly find increased beneficial microbial functioning associated with mixtures of cover crop residues, we could not observe this in a 5-year field experiment.
    Overall, the use of cover crop mixtures did not have significant beneficial effects on soil microbial functioning but also no negative effects on for example greenhouse gas emissions.
    Gas flux measurements in Cover crops

Outreach

Categories