Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

Transformation of agri-food systems is required to improve farm to regional scale nutrient cycling, to prepare our agricultural landscapes for climatic change, and to contribute to net-zero emission targets. In this effort, agroecological approaches, such as increased plant diversity on farms and use of regionally sourced organic amendments, offer pathways to achieve multiple sustainability goals. New knowledge is needed on how plants/crops in more diverse compositions respond to, impact, and acquire dynamic availability of nutrients in soil, and how these processes can be optimized with long-term climate change mitigation goals. Our research program aims to improve mechanistic understanding of the biogeochemical outcomes from increased plant diversity and ecological nutrient management. A continuous flow analyzer is urgently needed for our detailed measurements of soil nutrients from localized scales, of where plants/crops interact with soil, and across diverse agroecosystems. This instrument will measure three key nutrient ions for agroecological research: nitrate, ammonium, and phosphate. Being able to accurately quantify these nutrients in soil is essential for us to understand constraints on crop productivity, the efficiency of fertilizers and organic amendments applied to fields, and the risk to the environment when nutrients are lost to nearby waterways or emitted to the atmosphere as nitrous oxide. With this continuous flow analyzer, graduate students will get advanced training and experience in analytical chemistry techniques and technologies for analyzing soil samples in agricultural and environmental sectors. The continuous flow analyzer has high-throughput capacity and can measure all three target analytes simultaneously, which will ensure high research efficiency and support the pace of my research team's growth. Our work advancing precision sampling at the root-soil interface using novel applications of microdialysis is dependent on an instrument that can detect low concentrations of the target nutrients. My new research lab is a first of its kind in Canada, by linking high precision sampling and imaging of plant-soil interactions with biogeochemical cycles in agroecosystems. Collectively, findings from our research will inform i) theoretical innovations linking plant/crop form and function with biogeochemical cycling in agroecosystems, ii) evidence-based ecological nutrient management for more strategic and efficient use of nutrients/fertilizers, and iii) management of plants on farms to promote carbon sequestration and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. As our findings clarify the connection between small-scale soil processes, such as crop nutrient acquisition, with resulting large-scale phenomena, such as greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural fields, our research is contributing to solutions in meeting net-zero commitments by 2050.