Announcements
Following a three-year hiatus, the Northeastern States Research Cooperative (NSRC) has been revitalized, thanks to $2 million in funding for the 2020 fiscal year from the US Forest Service.The Hubbard Brook Research Foundation will lead the community engagement effort to ensure that funded projects align with on-the-ground issues in an economy and culture that depends on forest health. Read more here:
In September, Ashley Lang will begin an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology with Rich Phillips at Indiana University, where she will be based
. They will also be closely collaborating with Jennifer Pett-Ridge at Lawrence Livermore National Lab in Livermore, CA.
Here's Ashley's description of the project:
"The goals of this project are to 1) quantify carbon and nitrogen in mineral-associated soil organic matter across the U.S. National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) and 2) to understand more about the environmental conditions that favor mineral-associated organic matter formation and long-term persistence in soil. We are planning to test how vegetation characteristics, microbial communities, and soil mineralogy all interact to influence the amount of carbon and nitrogen associated with soil minerals. This is important because mineral-associated organic matter is thought to be less susceptible to decomposition (and subsequently adding to atmospheric CO2) than other forms of organic matter in soil, like partially-decayed roots and leaves. However, most of what we know about the formation of this material is site-specific, so it’s going to be useful to compare the drivers across many sites which vary in climate, soil, and forest type. We are planning to use archived soil that was collected at a subset of forested NEON sites, ranging from Alaska to Puerto Rico.
On a more personal note, I am eager to continue working with folks at Hubbard Brook and I do intend to stay in close contact with the COS by attending meetings virtually."
Congratulations, Ashley!
Each Friday during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hubbard Brook Research Foundation will be sending out an email with brief updates from members of the Hubbard Brook community. If you'd like to share a written message or a video clip with your coworkers, please send it to
sciencelinks@hubbardbrookfoundation.org.