AdvisorMarco Keiluweit

Root-mediated weathering impacts on soil carbon storage

Understanding the dynamics and vulnerability of mineral-organic interactions is critical for projecting climate change impacts on soil fertility and carbon storage. Plant roots and associated microbes release an array of reactive rhizodeposits, potentially both forming and disrupting protective mineral-organic associations in the surrounding soil.  But our ability to measure and predict the impact of rhizodeposits on the dynamics of mineral organic associations in the rhizosphere remains limited. I conduct field observations, laboratory, and greenhouse experiments and couple these results with those of collaborators who specialize in high resolution mass spectrometry and reactive transport modeling to follow the impact of roots on the dynamics of protective mineral-organic associations.

Funding

  • NEAGAP Scholar 2016
  • NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program Recipient
  • NSF GRFP Intership Program

Publications

Garcia Arredondo, M., Lawrence, C. R., Schulz, M. S., Tfaily, M. M., Kukkadapu, R., Jones, M. E., Boye, K., and Keiluweit, M., 2019. “Root-Driven Weathering Impacts on Mineral-Organic Associations in Deep Soils over Pedogenic Time Scales.” Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 263: 68–84.

Keisling, B., Bryant, R., Fernandez, N., Garcia Arredondo, M., and Golden, N., 2020. “What’s in a seminar?” Eos, 101.

UMass Organizations

Hobbies

Tennis, baking, swimming, hiking