Michael Strickland
University of Idaho, ID·Ecology & Evolution
Much like the deep ocean, soils below the top few tens of centimeters are largely unexplored. Researchers usually reach them only by digging pits, and experiments that directly change deep soil conditions have not been possible.
- Fields
Ecology & Evolution
Earth & Environmental Science
Plant Science & Agriculture
- Topics
deep soil
soil ecology
ecotron
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through Jul 2028
What they work on
- Determine how deep soil communities and processes interact with surface soils to shape whole ecosystems, using 24 instrumented Deep Soil Ecotron chambers holding soil profiles up to three meters deep.
- Test how deep soils respond to global and land-use change, such as rising soil temperature and agricultural practices, through controlled experiments in the Deep Soil Ecotron.
- Integrate deep-soil measurements into earth system models and use the facility as a testbed to develop sensors that monitor deep soils in place.
- Develop standard metadata, shared ontologies and data access protocols for ecotron facilities, following FAIR principles so data are findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable.
- Build a metadata discovery portal, APIs and automated data pipelines, piloted at the Deep Soil Ecotron, so ecotron datasets can be combined for comparative studies.
More about the research
Yet deep soils hold living communities and drive processes that may shape whole ecosystems, food production and climate. Two projects tackle this gap. One builds a facility to study deep soils under controlled conditions. The other makes the data from such controlled-environment facilities, called ecotrons, shareable across the country.
Why it matters
Better knowledge of deep soils could help slow the degradation of US soil resources and protect soil biodiversity, food security and the soil's capacity to store carbon. More accurate soil representation in earth system models, new sensors for deep-soil monitoring, and a shared national ecotron data resource could support farmers, land managers and climate scientists.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Matthew Bowker
Northern Arizona University, AZ·Ecology & Evolution
Determine what controls the functional biodiversity of biological soil crusts at a global scale, through standardized surveys of biocrust composition run at many international sites.
Serita Frey
University of New Hampshire, NH·Earth & Environmental Science
Test whether decades of soil warming produce cycles of organic matter decay punctuated by shifts in the soil microbial community, continuing core measurements across Harvard Forest plots warmed 5 degrees Celsius for 13, 16 and 28 years.
Georgia Seyfried
Oregon State University, OR·Ecology & Evolution
Characterize interactions among regenerating vegetation, soil fertility and microbial communities after single high-severity fires and short-interval reburns in wet western Cascade conifer forests, using field surveys.
The school
University of Idaho: 8 labs on PI Pages, $140M a year on research, 71 research doctorates a year.
Reach out
A start for your email. Fill in the brackets.