Soil degradation is a major global environmental problem. Agroecological methods such as no-till farming and intensive grazing have potential to restore soil fertility, reduce the environmental impacts of agriculture, and restore soil function as a sink for carbon. Degraded pasture land, one of the most prevalent land covers on Earth and common in the South Carolina Piedmont, presents significant potential for increased agricultural productivity and carbon sequestration. This Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) award funds analytical equipment that will be used to collect soil carbon data which will increase understanding of current and future soil quality, and its relationship to land uses such as pasture and urban lawns, in the South Carolina Piedmont. Better understanding of the properties of Piedmont soils may lead to improved soil management, which in turn can influence watershed hydrology and water quality in the region. A major objective of instrumentation acquisition is to train undergraduates to use research grade instruments and to interpret the data, preparing them for both employment and graduate education. Students using this instrument will conduct research in soil biogeochemistry, and results will directly benefit local farmers working to mitigate soil degradation. Students will benefit from interaction with farmers, gaining understanding of the importance of agroecosystems to society. In addition to involving undergraduate students (who are predominantly female) from Furman University, the researchers will involve high school students through research and education programs already in place. Also, Furman's membership in two consortia of southeastern liberal arts colleges provides the opportunity to involve undergraduates from several Historically Black Colleges. This project is jointly funded by the MRI program and the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). Specifically, this award funds the acquisition of a LECO TruMac Series CN Macro Determinator to analyze the carbon and nitrogen content of soils and sediments. This instrument will expand the research activities associated with the River Basins Research Initiative at Furman University to include studies of terrestrial, as well as aquatic, biogeochemistry. Initially, the instrument will be used to analyze soil samples from soil cores collected from farms in the South Carolina Piedmont. The primary objective of this research is to understand how intensive grazing and no-till planting improve soil organic carbon (SOC) and soil organic nitrogen (SON). One of the farms began intensive grazing in 2012, and changes in SOC and SON at different depths will be tracked over the next 10 years or more. A secondary objective is to quantify the potential for pasture soils to serve as carbon sinks.
