Research

Soils store more carbon than the atmosphere and all living plants combined, yet we still don't fully understand what governs organic matter persistence in soils across timescales ranging from days to millennia. A key part of the answer lies in soil pore architecture, which shapes the micro-environments that govern organic matter decomposition, microbial activity, and carbon stabilization. We investigate how pore structure drives carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions across scales.

Studying how soil structure governs biogeochemical processes requires methods that preserve it. Yet most analytical approaches rely on sieved or homogenized samples, effectively destroying the very architecture that shapes soil functioning. We develop high-resolution spatially resolved techniques and experimental systems, from lab and synchrotron-based imaging and spectroscopy to field experiments, that keep soil structure intact and provide physical, chemical, and biological information across a range of scales.

Agricultural soils are among the most intensively managed and rapidly changing ecosystems on Earth. Tillage, irrigation, crop rotations, and shifting climate conditions all reshape soil structure and function. How do these pressures propagate across scales, from the pore to the field and landscape? We explore how management practices and environmental change shape soil structure and biogeochemical processes, linking the microscale mechanisms we study in the lab to field-scale patterns of soil structure and function, with the aim of informing more sustainable soil management practices.