Current Competitive Grant

Biochar and managed perennial ecosystems: Testing for synergy in ecosystem function and biodiversity

Project ID: E2011-03

This 3-year grant for $102,248 was awarded in 2011.

Location: Story county

Biochar is a major by-product of low-temperature pyrolosis from the thermal decomposition of wood or grasses to produce heat, electricity or biofuels. The goal is to investigate the ecological impacts of biochar on the interactions among native prairie plants, soil organisms and their soil environments. Information will stem from field-based initiatives to determine the effects of these soil amendments prior to widespread application.

Stanley Harpole

Stanley Harpole joined the Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology Department at Iowa State University in 2008. He received his PhD from the University of Minnesota in 2005, while working with David Tilman. His primary field site was at Sedgwick Reserve near Santa Barbara, California. His dissertation focused on the role of multiple resource limitation for controlling biodiversity and invasions. Through his work in the northern and southern California grasslands, he hoped to better understand the roles of cattle grazing, N-deposition and spatial processes on the landscape.

Lori Biederman is a co-investigator. Her research focuses on the interrelationship of above- and below-ground biotic communities and the consequences of these relationships for community structure and ecosystem function. In particular, she is interested in how above- and below-ground linkages are altered with global change or within patchworks of land uses, such as those that contain native prairies, perennial agriculture, and annual crops. Other interests include forest understory interactions, grassland ecology and restoration. [Contact lead investigator]

Co-Investigator(s):

This competitive grant project is part of the Leopold Center's Ecology Initiative.

The Leopold Center was established by the 1987 Iowa Groundwater Protection Act as a research and education center at Iowa State University to develop sustainable agricultural practices that are both profitable and conserve natural resources. Iowa State does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, sex, marital status, disability, or status as a U.S. Vietnam Era Veteran. Any persons having inquiries concerning this may contact the Director of Affirmative Action, 3210 Beardshear Hall, (515) 294-7612.

This page was found at http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/grants/e2011-03 on 01/20/2013