Soil Biodiversity and Health Lab

This summer the Lazcano Lab participated in two of the most important conferences in viticulture and enology, the 74th ASEV National Conference in Napa, California on June 26 – 29, 2023, and the 22nd GiESCO (Group of International Experts for Cooperation on Vitivinicultural Systems) meeting at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., July 17-20, 2023.

At the ASEV Conference, Dr. Axel Herrera presented a poster with an overview of our current project on regenerative viticulture, titled ‘Assessing the efficacy of regenerative agriculture to sequester C and support soil health in vineyards ‘. The PhD candidate Noelymar Gonzalez presented part of her dissertation work in the poster ‘Assessing the variability of Soil Health indicators across California Vineyards‘. Noely received the best student poster presentation award for this work!

At the 22nd GiESCO meeting Dr. Lazcano presented a summary of the lab’s research over the last 6 years in the talk ‘Managing soil health in vineyards: knowns and unknowns’ and the PhD student Amanda Rodriguez presented the first results of her dissertation in the poster ‘Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi on Grapevine roots Across and Edaphoclimatic Gradient‘.

After many conversations with colleagues and lots of interesting talks, we feel more inspired and full of energy than ever!

Luisa Robles will be starting a MSc at Penn State this August to study temporal variability in soil health. She will be working under the supervision of Dr. Many Ann Bruns and Dr. Estelle Coradeau. Luisa started working with the lab back in January 2021 as an undergraduate student assistant and then continued to be our Junior Specialist for one more year after graduating in 2022. Upon graduation, she received a Citation for Outstanding Performance in Environmental Science and Management and a Department Citation in Land, Air, and Water Resources. During her time at the lab she also presented at two conferences and was awarded with the best poster at the 2021 SSSA diversity student poster competition. We are looking forward to seeing her achievements in her new role as a graduate student! Go Luisa!! 

Huge Congratulations to Courtney Emerson for finishing her Master’s.
Courtney investigated changes in soil biochemical properties in processing tomatoes grown under deficit irrigation. Deficit irrigation is a water conservation practice that has increased in use due to the threat of drought, but its long-term impact on soil health remains unclear. The project found no evidence that deficit irrigation could harm the agricultural production of processing tomatoes in California or negatively impact soil physical properties, but more research should be done to determine how spatial variability of biological properties affects the soil within the context of soil health and carbon sequestration.

 

Congratulations to Josh for receiving two postdoctoral fellowships to support his work! Josh received the University of California President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship (https://ppfp.ucop.edu/info/), a UC-wide award meant to support postdoctoral scholars whose work addresses issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion. For his PPF project, Josh will be collaborating with urban farmers in Oakland and San Francisco to examine how a variety of organic amendments can support soil health and crop productivity in urban farming. Josh will also work with these growers on a variety of urban grower outreach and extension activities surrounding soil health and sustainable management practices.

Josh also received the National Science Foundation’s Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology (https://beta.nsf.gov/funding/opportunities/postdoctoral-research-fellowships-biology-prfb). For his PRFB project, Josh will be examining how diversified crop rotations can support biological soil phosphorus cycling in the Midwest and Canada using soil physicochemical and metatranscriptomic techniques. As a part of his fellowship activities, Josh will also be leading efforts to support fellow postdoctoral scholars from marginalized backgrounds at UC Davis.

Summer in Davis means tomato season. This week the team was out early in the field to collect soil and rhizosphere samples. In this trial, we are evaluating the response  of the soil microbiome to a biostimulant.

Zeke and Laibin (Rodrigues Lab) collect rhizosphere samples

Zeke (Rodrigues Lab) holding a tomato root sample

Nono, Anna and Erika (Lazcano Lab) taking soil samples

Established in 1992, Professors for the Future (PFTF) is a year-long competitive fellowship program designed to recognize and develop the leadership skills of outstanding graduate students and postdoctoral scholars who have demonstrated their commitment to professionalism, integrity, and academic service. The program is designed to prepare UC Davis doctoral students and postdoctoral scholars for an increasingly competitive marketplace and a rapidly changing university environment.

Congratulations Noely!