Montpellier Scientific Community



Laboratory for the study of Interactions between Soils, Agrosystems, Hydrosystems (LISAH)

Director: Jérôme Molenat
Research area
The Unit ‘Laboratory for the study of Interactions between Soils, Agrosystems, Hydrosystems' groups both researchers and academic staff from the National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA), the Institute of Research for Development (IRD) and the School of Agronomy of Montpellier (Supagro).
Its central research theme is the study of the spatial organisation and hydrology of agricultural landscapes both in developed and developing countries. Specific objectives are to:
  • increase basic understanding about erosion, water and pollutant transport processes in soils and farmed catchments as a function of their spatial and temporal heterogeneities, both natural and land use related
  • develop new methods and tools for detecting and preventing threats to soil and water resources
  • design sustainable management strategies for rural landscapes
  • educate students on the concepts and tools for analysing and modelling the spatial organisation of farmed landscapes and their hydrological behaviour.
The unit has three main research programs:
  • Studying and modelling transport mechanisms from field to catchment scales
  • Analysing and modelling the spatial organization and evolution of the functional properties of farmed landscapes according to their hydrological behaviour
  • Developing distributed eco-hydrological modelling approaches
The LISAH manages a long term environmental observatory, called OMERE (Observatoire Méditerranéen de l'Environnement Rural et de l'Eau), which aims at studying the impact of human activities on runoff, erosion and subsequent changes in water quality. This observatory consists of two experimental catchments located in South France near Montpellier and in Tunisia in the Cap Bon region. The two sites represent two different stages in the evolution of Mediterranean farmed landscapes.
Research highlights
  • Development of distributed hydrological modeling in farmed catchments
  • Water contamination processes by pesticides at the catchment scale in semi-arid environments
  • Evaluation of water harvesting techniques at field and catchment scales
  • Impact of global change on the soil vulnerability to soil erosion
  • Development of digital mapping of soils and of anthropogenic landscape features
Staff profile
Research Org.
Researchers
Professors
Research Eng.
Techn. & Admin. Staff
PhD
Mtp SupAgro, IRD, INRA
21
2
5
20
10
Research teams
  • Water and pollutants transport in farmed catchments
  • Erosion and solid matter transport
  • Spatial organization and functioning of farmed landscapes
Platforms and other tools
Modeling platform: MHYDAS Modélisation HYdrologique Distribuée pour les AgroSytèmes (Distributed hydrological modeling for agrosystems)
Most important international partnerships
  • Department of Water Resources Engineering Lund University, Sweden
  • Faculty of Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources, the University of Sydney, Australia
  • INRGREF Tunis, Tunisie
  • Institut Agronomique et Vétérinaire Hassan II Rabat Maroc
  • Institut National Agronomique Tunisien, Tunis, Tunisie
Representative publications
1. Charlier, J.B.; Cattan, P.; Voltz, M. & Moussa, R. (2009), 'Transport of a nematicide in surface and ground waters in a tropical volcanic catchment', Journal of Environmental Quality 38, 1031-1041.
2. Charlier, J.B., Moussa, R., Cattan, P., Cabidoche, Y.M., Voltz, M. (2009), Modelling runoff at the plot scale taking into account rainfall partitioning by vegetation: application to stemflow of banana (Musa spp.) plant. /Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 13, 2151-2168 (/www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/13/2151/2009//).
3. Dagès, C., Voltz, M., Bsaibes, A., Prévot, L., Huttel, O., Louchart, X., Garnier, F. & Negro, S. (2009), 'Estimating the role of a ditch network in groundwater recharge in a mediterranean catchment using a water balance approach', Journal of Hydrology, 375, 498-512.
4. Gomez, C.; Lagacherie, P. & Coulouma, G. (2008), 'Continuum removal method versus PLSR method for Clay and Calcium carbonate contents estimation by laboratory and airborne hyper-spectral measurements', Geoderma 148, 141-148.
5. Gumiere, S.J.; Davy, G., Raclot, D., Cheviron, B., Louchart, X., Le Bissonnais, Y. (sous presse), MHYDAS-Erosion: A physically based spatially distributed erosion model for agricultural catchment application. Hydrological Processes.
6. Lagacherie, P.; Baret, F.; Feret, J.; Madeira Netto, J. & Robbez-Masson, J. M. (2008), 'Estimation of soil clay and calcium carbonate using laboratory, field and airborne hyperspectral measurements', Remote Sensing of Environment 112(3), 85-95.
7. Lagacherie, P., Rabotin, M., Colin, F., Moussa, R., Voltz. M. (2010), Geo-MHYDAS: A landscape discretization tool for distributed hydrological modelling of cultivated areas, Computers & Geosciences, 36(8), 1021-1032.
8. Latiri, K., Lhomme, J.P., Annabi, M., Setter, T.L. (2010), Wheat production in Tunisia: Progress, inter-annual variability and relation to rainfall, European Journal of Agronomy, 33(1), 33-42.
9. Legout, C.; Molénat, J. & Hamon, Y. (2009), 'Experimental and Modelling Investigation of Unsaturated Solute Transport with Water-Table Fluctuation', Vadose Zone Journal 8, 21-31.
10. Louchart, X. & Voltz, M. (2007), 'Aging effects on the availability of herbicides to runoff transfer', Environmental Science and Technology 41, 1137-1141.
11. Planchon, O., Mouche, E. (2010), Physical Model for the Action of Raindrop Erosion on Soil Microtopography, Soil Science Society of America Journal, 74 (4), 1092-1103.
12. Raclot, D., Le Bissonnais, Y., Louchart, X., Andrieux, P., Moussa, R. & Voltz, M. (2009), 'Soil tillage and scale effects on erosion from fields to catchment in a Mediterranean vineyard area.', Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 134: 201-210.
13. Saison, C., Louchart, X., Schiavon, M., Voltz, M. (2010), Evidence of the role of climate control and reversible aging processes in the fate of diuron in a Mediterranean topsoil, European Journal of Soil Science, 61(4), 576-587.
14. Sanchez, P., Ahamed, S., Carré, F., Hartemink, A., Hempel, J., Huising, J., Lagacherie, P., McBratney, A., McKenzie, N., Mendonça-Santos, M., Minasny, B., Montanarella, L., Okoth, P., Palm, C., Sachs, J., Shepherd, K., Vågen, T., Vanlauwe, B., Walsh, M., Winowiecki, L. & Zhang, G. (2009), 'Digital Soil map of the world.', Science, 325, 680-681.
15. Shepherd, K., Vågen, T., Vanlauwe, B., Walsh, M., Winowiecki, L. & Zhang, G. (2009), 'Digital Soil map of the world.', Science, 325, 680-681.
List of software and devices developed within the unit
  • MHYDAS: Modélisation HYdrologique Distribuée pour les AgroSytèmes (Distributed hydrological modeling for agrosystems) http://www.umr-lisah.fr/mhydas/
  • ATLASOLS: an atlas of the soils of the Languedoc-Roussillon region http://www.umr-lisah.fr/AtlaSols/
  • HYSAE: a database structure for storing spatial and temporal data from hydrological observatories
  • EPI: a software fro evaluating interactively the visibility of landscapes http://www.umr-lisah.fr/Produits/epi/ a drone for remote sensing
  • PIXY@: http://www.drone-pixy.com/
Total annual budget
(in Euros)
 2006 2007 2008
Total annual budget
 659 300* 773 600* To be completed
of which external contracts:       ANR
 22 500 60 000 153 825
EU
 6 800 48 800 45 986
Private sector
 0 0 5 733
Others
 186 200 138 100

*excluding salaries of permanent staff