Current Group members

Asmeret Asefaw Berhe

Principal Investigator
Professor, Soil Biogeochemistry
Falasco Endowed Chair in Earth Sciences
email:aaberhe(at)ucmerced.edu
Research focus: see Research page

AA Berhe CV

Todd Longbottom

Postdoc
email:tlongbottom(at)ucmerced.edu)
Research Focus: Deep Soil Organic Matter (SOM) dynamics; Application of spectroscopy to determine SOM composition; and role of fire in SOM dynamics

Kyungjin Min

Postdoc
email:kmin4(at)ucmerced.edu)
Research focus: how the biotic and abiotic interactions influence biogeochemical cycles in soil; and deep soil organic matter storage and stabilization

Yang Yang

Postdoc
(co-mentored with Steven C. Hart and Michael Goulden)
email:yyang103(at)ucmerced.edu
Research focus: biogeochemical cycles (e.g. carbon, nitrogen, mercury) in forest and freshwater ecosystems; Uncertainty analysis in ecosystem studies.
https://yangyang48.wixsite.com/research

Manisha Dolui

PhD student
email: mdolui(a)ucmerced.edu

Environmental Systems Graduate Group, UC Merced

Research focus: Vulnerability of Buried Soil Carbon due to Future Climate Change

Leila Wehab

PhD student
email: lwehab(a)ucmerced.edu

Environmental Systems Graduate Group, UC Merced

Research focus: Effect of changing precipitation patterns on Soil organic nitrogen dynamics

Melinda Gonzales

PhD student
email: mgonzales36(a)ucmerced.edu

Environmental Systems Graduate Group, UC Merced

Research focus: role of biochar in reducing greenhouse gas fluxes from soil: effects of feedstock, pyrolysis temperature, and effectiveness for reducing methane fluxes form dairy waste.

Zachary Malone

PhD student
email: zmalone(a)ucmerced.edu

Environmental Systems Graduate Group, UC Merced

Research focus: Effect of land management practices on SOM dynamics

Anna Jurusik

PhD student
email: ajurusik(a)ucmerced.edu

Environmental Systems Graduate Group, UC Merced

Research focus: Pyrogenic carbon dynamics in soil, Effect of changes in precipitation on SOM dynamics

Former lab group members

Nate Bogie

(Postdoc, co-advised by Teamrat A. Ghezzehei)
Research focus: Effect of drought and variability of soil water input on soil carbon, aggregation, and water holding capacity

Fernanda Santos

(Postdoc)
Research focus: Dynamics of pyrogenic carbon in soil, effect of combustion temperature on composition of dissolved organic matter in fire affected systems

https://www.fsantosresearch.com

Rebecca Abney

Ph.D. student
Research focus: Lateral transport of pyrogenic C with soil erosion, and determining mean residence time of PyC in dynamic hillslopes

Morgan Barnes

(Ph.D. student, co-advised by Steve Hart)
Research focus: Phosphorous Biogeochemistry, and effect of soil development on biogeochemical cycling of essential elements

Kimber Moreland

(Ph.D. student)
Research focus: Dynamics of deep SOM, and climatic controls on biogeochemical cycling of essential elements

Lixia Jin

(Ph.D. student)
Research focus: Role of metal oxides in soil organic matter dynamics, and distribution of natural nano-particulate metal oxides in soil

Erin Stacy

(MSc. student, co-advised by Steve Hart)
Research focus: Erosional redistribution of soil carbon and nitrogen in low-order granitic, forested catchments in the Sierra Nevada Mountains

Samuel Negusse Araya

(Ph.D. student)
Research focus: Dynamics of deep SOM, and climatic controls on biogeochemical cycling of essential elements

Emma McCorkle

(MSc. student, co-advised by Steve Hart)
Research focus: Using stable isotopes to determine source of organic matter eroded in low-order granitic, forested catchments in the Sierra Nevada Mountains

Deoyani V. Sarkhot

(Postdoc)
Research focus: nutrient enrichment of biochar with flushed dairy manure, effects on soils C and N dynamics

Samuel Negusse Araya

(Ph.D. student; co-advised with Teamrat A. Ghezzehei)
Research focus: Coupled hydrology and biogeochemistry of high elevation meadow soils in the Sierra Nevada

Michael Kaiser

(Postdoc)
Research focus: effect of ultrasonication, air-drying rewetting on soil organic matter dynamics; effect of biochar and CaCO3 on soil aggregation

Visiting Scholar

Ben Sulman

Postdoc, Princeton University/NOAA GFDL
USA
Research focus: Modeling the roles of microbial and mineral processes in soil organic matter formation, stabilization, and decomposition from ecosystem to global scales.

Ray Alves

Ph.D. student; University of Brazilia
BRAZIL
Research focus: Topographic controls on soil organic matter composition in tropical ecosystems

Chun Liu

Ph.D. student; Hunan University and State Key Lab of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau
CHINA
Research focus: Source identification and ecological effect of eroded sediment organic carbon using multiple fingerprinting approach in small watershed of loess plateau of China.

Moritz Mainka
Undergraduate student, University of Augsburg
GERMANY
Research focus: Climatic controls on soil phosphorus speciation

Veronica Ullman
Undergraduate student, University of Augsburg
GERMANY
Research focus: Climatic controls on soil phosphorus speciation

Xin Gao
Ph.D. student; Northwest A&F University
CHINA
Research focus: Role of erosion in soil organic matter composition and persistence

Sebastian Doetterl
Postdoc, University of Augsburg
GERMANY
Research focus: Role of erosion on SOM dynamics, and SOM dynamics along the Merced Chronosequence