Compost for management of plant pathogens and weed seeds, 4/1/10-3/31/12. I am partnering with Tom Gilbert (Highfields Center for Composting), Andy Jones (Intervale Community Farm), and a second farmer (yet to be identified) on this project funded by Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education Partnership grants program. This is a demonstration project to show that compost made to recipe kills plant pathogens and weed seeds.

 

Ecology of Nematode-suppressive Soils in Midwest Soybean-cropping Systems, 1/1/09—present. I will collaborate with Dr. Senyu Chen (University of Minnesota) on this project funded by the USDA-NRICGP Arthropod and Nematode Biology and Management (A) Organismal and Population Biology program.  We plan to quantify the effects of crop rotation  and tillage on soil suppressiveness to Heterodera glycines. In the proposed study , I am responsible for soil community composition and food web structure of predaceous, fungivorous and bacterivorous nematodes and mcirobes associated with associated with biocontrol agents. 

 

Winter pasture and bedded pack management for Vermont dairy farms, 8/16/08-present. I collaborate with Linda Berlin, Jennifer Colby, Rachel Gilker (UVM Center of Sustainable Agriculture, Vermont Pasture Network), and Tom Gilbert (Highfields Center for Composting) on this project funded by the URDA- Natural Resources Conservation Service, Conservation Innovation Grants. We plan to develop economically optimal winter grazing and bedded pack management for enhanced pasture land quality and reduced energy and feed costs. Our group is responsible for enumerating whole communities of soil nematodes to genus to compute a maturity index, quantify soil aggregate structure and organic carbon.

 

Integrated Land-use, Transportation and Environmental Modeling: Complex Systems Approaches and Advanced Policy Applications, 1/08-present. I collaborate with Dr. Sarah Taylor Lovell (University of Illinois) on this project funded by the UVM University Transportation Center. Our role in this larger signature project is to quantify impacts of road particulate matter (e.g. road salt, gravel, dust, litter) on the soils and vegetative communities of forests immediately surrounding roadways, based on road type, traffic volume and topography.

 

Species inventory of nematodes in tropical forests of Costa Rica, 1/05-3/10. I collaborated with Drs. Thomas Powers (University of Nebraska, Lincoln), Robin Giblin-Davis (University of Florida, Ft Lauderdale), S. Patricia Stock (University of Arizona, Tucson), Alejandro Esquivel (Universidad Nacional, Heredia, Costa Rica), Lorena Uribe and Marielos Mora (University of Costa Rica, San Jose) on this project funded by the National Science Foundation Biodiversity Surveys and Inventories.

Climatic Change in Arid Lands: Effects on Soil Biota and Ecosystem Processes, 5/05-4/10. I collaborated with Drs. Cheryl Kuske (Los Alamos National Laboratories, NM) and Jayne Belnap (USGS, Moab, UT) on this project funded by the Department of Energy - Program for Ecosystems Research.  Current weather at our field site in Utah. 2006 PI Meeting Report, 2007 PI Meeting Report.  University of Vermont, The View (9/18/08), Vermont Quarterly (Summer 2009).

CURRENT AND RECENT PROJECTS