"Rain Check: Rethinking Soil Carbon Under Shifting Precipitation"

About Dr. Asmeret Asefaw Berhe

The Honorable Dr. Asmeret Asefaw Berhe, a Professor of Soil Biogeochemistry and Falasco Chair at the University of California, Merced. She previously served as Director of the United States Department of Energy’s Office of Science (Senate confirmed, Presidential nomination) and Associate Dean for Graduate Education at UC Merced. Dr. Berhe’s research bridges the disciplines of soil science, geochemistry, global change science, and political ecology. Her research aims to improve our understanding of the soil system’s role in regulating the Earth’s climate; how soil carbon and nutrient cycles respond to environmental changes, including climate change, land-use changes, erosion, and wildfires; and the dynamic two-way relationship between soil and human communities. She holds the distinction of being an elected member of the United States National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of both the American Geophysical Union and the Geological Society of America, and recipient of many other awards and honors.

Rain Check: Rethinking Soil Carbon Under Shifting Precipitation

ABSTRACT: Climate change is causing major shifts in precipitation patterns globally. Across a variety of ecosystems, changes in precipitation patterns include increased or decreased amounts, shifts in precipitation type, changes in timing, more frequent extreme events, and more. How these shifts in precipitation patterns affect the soil system’s ability to sequester atmospheric carbon dioxide and to store and stabilize organic matter varies with a host of soil and ecosystem properties. Using insights from a combination of short- and long-term rainfall simulation experiments and field observation studies across California, along with theoretical work, this talk will discuss the effects of changes in the amount and timing of precipitation on fluxes, stocks, composition, and stabilization mechanisms of soil carbon. 

Where

PAS 314

The University of Arizona Physics-Atmospheric Sciences building (PAS) is located at 1118 E. 4th Street, Tucson, AZ 85719