Welcome to the Forest Soils and Ecology Lab at Virginia Tech!

What we do...

Nutrient cycling, biogeochemistry, ecosystem ecology...we study how carbon and nutrients

move through forest ecosystems with a specific focus on soil properties and processes.

Why we do it...

Forests cover approximately one-third of the Earth’s land surface and are important focal points for the supply of ecosystem goods and services.  In the context of a global human population in excess of 6.9 billion, a value that has doubled over the past 40 years, there is an increasing strain placed on our natural resources that extends from our ability to ensure the sustainable production of food, fiber, and fuel to many of the additional ecosystem services valued by society.

In forest ecosystems, as with nearly all terrestrial environments, soils are the hub of biological and chemical activity.  Specifically, forest soils are largely responsible for their sustained productivity and the regulation of key cycles and processes.

How we do it...

forest ecosystems function in response

to external forces (e.g. forest

management, land use or global

change).  We do this by trying to

provide a mechanistic understanding of

the relationships between soil properties

(physical, chemical, and biological) and

processes (biotic and abiotic) so that we

can predict how these changes affect

soil/ecosystem function (e.g. carbon

sequestration, forest productivity).