The forest soil and water laboratory group quantifies how nutrient and hydrologic cycles control the chemistry of forest soils, drainage waters, and forest productivity. Our research focuses on the management of the soil resource in an effort to maximize forest growth and to maintain ecosystem quality. At the stand level this includes questions of fertilizer use efficiency, soil nutrient supplies, and long-term soil quality. At the landscape level this includes the effects of land management, land applications, and land use change on soil and stream water chemistry, and watershed integrity. Projects Longleaf pine establishment, management, and benefits: Effects of pine straw raking This new USDA FSA project with Professors David Dickens, David Clabo, and Cristian Montes is evaluating the effects of pine straw raking on conservation values on Conservation Reserve Program lands. Soil Site Productivity: An update of NRCS site index This new USDA NRCS project started Sept 2020. Along with Professors David Dickens, David Clabo, and Cristian Montes we are working to update site index estimations by soil series or soil associations. Soil Health in Managed Forests: This new USDA NIFA project stated August 2020. We will make use of 1300 soil samples collected throughout the Southeast region during PINEMAP and will take the Consortium for Accelerated Pine Productivity Studies (CAPPS) into the second rotation. Gopher Frogs Along with Warnell herpetologist Dr. John Maerz, we have initiated investigations of functional attributes of restored wetlands, ideally as they assist recovery of gopher frog populations. Publications Google Scholar Website: (External Site) Research Areas: Forest Biology
