Soil Biodiversity and Health Lab

The Soil Biodiversity and Health Lab will be leading the charge to assess the potential of healthy soils to contribute to the sustainability of groundwater and irrigated agriculture in semi-arid regions of western US. We will assess how sustainable and regenerative soil management practices such as cover cropping build carbon and soil health with benefits for soil drivers of groundwater recharge and drought resilience to improve sustainability of western US agroecosystems. This research will be carried out within the context of a $10M USDA NIFA grant awarded to Associate Professor Isaya Kisekka. We will be looking for a postdoctoral scholar to work with us on this multidisciplinary project. More info here.

Professor Isaya Kisekka and students measure soil moisture content at the UC Davis Agricultural Research Farm in 2018. (Source: https://www.ucdavis.edu/food/news/uc-davis-lead-groundwater-and-irrigated-agriculture-sustainability-study)

Congratulations to Noely Gonzalez-Maldonado for receiving the 2021 Western SARE Graduate Student Fellowship! Her research focuses on evaluating drivers of important soil health indicators in vineyards across Napa using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Find out more here

Last week, several members of the Lazcano Soil Ecology Lab attended the ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meeting — virtually, of course! There was a myriad of fascinating presentations ranging from hydrology and soil ecology to diversity and inclusion.

Two of our own — Dr. Cristina Lazcano and Noely Gonzalez-Maldonado, presented posters about root-associated microbiomes involved in strawberry health and nutrition, and the effects of sheep grazing on vineyard carbon, nitrogen, and greenhouse gas emissions, respectively. Congratulations to Noely Gonzalez-Maldonado for winning first place in the Animal Agricultural and the Environment Multilingual Scholar poster competition of the American Society of Agronomy (ASA)! This was a well-deserved win!🥇🏆

 

View the posters here:

Dr. Cristina Lazcano’s poster

Noely Gonzalez-Maldonado’s poster

Best of luck to Noelymar González as she presents at the 2020 SACNAS Conference! SACNAS (Society of Advancing Chicanos/Hispanics & Native Americans in Science) is committed to promoting the success of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in obtaining advanced degrees and careers in STEM. Today, Noely will be discussing how using sheep to manage vineyard cover crops affect soil health and greenhouse gas emissions. Everyone in the soil biodiversity and health lab is so proud of her! Good luck Noely 👏

 

View the presentation here:

SACNAS 2020 presentation – Noelymar González

👏 🥇Congratulations to Noelymar González for obtaining a Henry A. Jastro Graduate Research Award to support her work on vineyard soil health!! 🍇

🍇 We are thrilled to announce that our project ‘Assessment of the variability in soil health indicators and incorporating healthy soil management practices into the context of Napa Valley terroirs’  has received funding from the American Vineyard Foundation. This project will be performed through a partnership between UC Davis and USDA researchers and the Napa Valley Grape Grower Association.