Department
of Earth and Environmental Science
Alain F. Plante
Research program
Our research team seeks to characterize the
quantity, quality and function of organic matter in surface soils from
various ecosystems.
The interactions between organic and mineral
materials are a fundamental feature of soils, differentiating them from
geologic parent materials. Soil is primarily a mineral matrix (except
in organic soils such as peat), but receives inputs of organic matter
from various natural sources such as surface litter, root turnover and
exudation, or from various anthropogenic sources such as manure
additions. As this material is decomposed by soil fauna and
microorganisms, it is physically and biochemically transformed into
humified soil organic matter that is stabilized by various mechanisms.
Interactions between organic matter and soil mineral
surfaces occur at the nano- to micro-scale, but their impacts are felt
up to the global scale.
1500-2000 billion metric tons of carbon are stored
in
the top meter of the Earth's soils, making it the largest of the active
terrestrial carbon pools. Although soil organic carbon is essential to
both soil fertility and global carbon budgets, the size of the global
soil carbon pool has declined by 50-70% in the past 150 years due to
land use changes. These historic losses now represent an opportunity to
enhance carbon storage through conservation practices that promote soil
carbon sequestration and fertility in croplands, rangelands and
forests. For these reasons, soil organic carbon has become an object of
considerable scientific interest.
Current projects
Principal investigator - Characterization of soil organic matter using thermal analysis technology.
Funded by National Institute for Food & Agriculture, USDA. One
recent component of the project is the development of an online
community for researchers applying thermal analysis techqniues to
environmental samples: Forum for the Thermal Analysis of Environmental Samples (F-TAES)
Co-principal investigator - Luquillo Critical Zone Observatory. Funded by NSF-Geosciences (PI: Dr. Fred Scatena, EES-Penn)
Co-principal investigator - Decision trees for evaluating the potential of soil
carbon sequestration sites for climate change mitigation in Puerto Rico. Funded by USDA-Forest Service (PI: Dr. Fred Scatena, EES-Penn)
Collaborator - PIRE: Ecological and Evolutionary
Effects of Climate Change and Anthropogenic Influences
in Mongolia. Funded by NSF Office of
International Science and Engineering (PI: Dr. Peter Petraitis,
Biology-Penn)
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