News

We are glad to be back teaching soil processes and exploring how soils interact with ecosystems to provide essential functions that sustain life and support our environment. Together with the students, we created a word cloud connecting our first observations of soil morphology, bringing different… [read more]

Looking back at a soil exercise this summer, I’m reminded of the fascinating ways in which vegetation, soil formation, landscape position, and land use history interact to shape ecosystem functions. 🌿 Beneath acid-loving blueberry shrubs, we examined a mor humus form with distinct organic horizons.… [read more]

We congratulate Megha Singh from the University of South Carolina on successfully passing her Doctoral Qualifying Exam and are confident that she will make an excellent PhD candidate! We also warmly congratulate Dr. Moritz Mohrlok on the successful defense of his doctoral dissertation at the… [read more]

We had a wonderful research seminar with Hannah Lieberman, who recently started her postdoc at Oregon State University.  Hannah shared insights from her recent work on C, N, and P interactions in soils, including how these elements can compete for sorption sites influencing nutrient and carbon… [read more]

Over the past two weeks, we were very happy to host Dr. Daouda Guebre from Université Joseph Ki-Zerbo (UJKZ), Burkina Faso. It was a great opportunity to learn more about agricultural systems in the sub-humid southern edges of Burkina Faso’s Sudano-Sahelian zone, where carbon inputs are highly… [read more]

Our new study shows that aggregate hierarchy, the stepwise breakdown of larger aggregates into smaller units, differs strongly between soil types and management practices. Using incremental sonication and quantitative data analysis, we developed indicators that capture both aggregate stability and… [read more]

How do plants, fungi and bacteria exchange resources belowground? In this field study, carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) flows were traced across the plant–fungi–bacteria continuum to explore how fungal networks shape microbial communities. We found that plant-derived carbon was rapidly transferred to… [read more]

We resolved and analyzed different mineral hotspots within the soil matrix, and interestingly, none of them, including potentially reactive Fe oxides, showed a specific spatial association with soil organic matter. This finding becomes particularly intuitive when considering soil formation: mineral… [read more]

Polyethylene is one of the most abundant types of microplastic found in agricultural soils. In this study, we show that while polyethylene is mineralized slowly (0.12% after 22 months), the particles become increasingly integrated into soil aggregates and break down into smaller nano-sized… [read more]

As part of our outreach activities, we recently visited a local elementary school to introduce students to the fascinating world of soil systems. The students became real soil scientists through two hands-on activities: 🍂 Exploring the forest floor:  They sorted an organic layer into its different… [read more]