Equipment for Research on Biological Controls of Soil Processes

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This award provides funds to a group of botanists who are interested in the processes that control soil nutrient availability in temperate and tropical regions. The investigators study both agricultural and forest soils in efforts to understand the role of microfauna, nitrogen-carbon-phosphorus interactions, root dynamics, nitrogen fixation, decay of organic matter, and water dynamics in the production or cycling of nutrients. The requested equipment is needed to provide the accurate measurements of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur needed for these types of studies, and for measurement and analysis of root growth and of the microfauna in the soil. The nutrient properties of soil and its relation to the ecosystem directly or indirectly dependant on it for sustenance is a topic whose fundamental importance has been widely recognized in recent years. There is now widespread concern about the continued conversion of forest lands to agricultural purposes, now largely occurring in tropical areas, and about the kinds of land management techniques needed to preserve existing forest and to maximize the benefits gained from land where conversion has already occurred. Key to the latter is a basic understanding of the formation, use and recycling of nutrients in natural (forest) and artificial (agricultural) ecosystems. The use of equipment of the types funded through this award is crucial to this understanding.