Design of soil amendments to enhance SOM formation

This goal of this research is to develop a methodology to characterize the formation of stable SOM in soils inoculated with microbial consortia and thereby assess the effect of microbial consortia amendments on soil carbon sequestration. This project involves 
quantifying and comparing carbon stability in soil using advanced thermal techniques. 

Linking SOM thermal properties to turnover times

The goal of this research is to study how energy content of organic matter is transformed across soil depth gradients in order to understand underlying thermodynamic mechanisms that may regulate the preferential accumulation of organic substrates by soil microbes. This will be linked to 14C derived turnover times to determine if thermodynamic constraints may also be a predictor of SOM turnover time in forest soils.