Research & Projects

Many pine forests in the southern United States rely on repeated prescribed burns to reduce wildfire risk, manage fuel loads, and support habitat conservation. While much attention is often given to the aboveground effects of fire, less is known about how these practices influence belowground carbon dynamics. How do repeated burns affect soil carbon stocks and dynamics? 

Check the case study at Cook's Branch Conservancy in East Texas from here!

Plants influence soil CO₂ emissions by supplying carbohydrates belowground through their roots, but how carbon is allocated among different tissues and processes remains poorly understood. In this study, I applied cospectral analysis to examine how soil CO₂ fluxes from roots (i.e., autotrophic respiration) and microbes (i.e., heterotrophic respiration) respond to plant carbohydrate status and soil environmental conditions in a mature shortleaf pine forest at Davy Crockett National Forest, TX.