Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

1. The participants gave introductions and shared some information about their NC1187 research and talked about potential research collaborations.
2. New ideas and suggestions for group activities: Two ideas were discussed. Don Sparks will take the initiative to organize a workshop focusing on New Approaches for investigating Soil Particulate at the NSLS II, Brookhaven National Laboratory. Group will put together a special collection of papers focusing on the application of different techniques (advanced spectroscopic and wet chemical techniques). Jeff Jacobsen asked the members, if possible, to make this workshop open for other related multistate research groups (W4188, W4170, NCERA59, NRSP3, NE1942, NC1178, NE2045).
3. Dan Strawn provided a summary of the effort led by GSECARS to create a Steering Committee to oversee the creation of a new organization in response to the NSF Dear Colleague Letter “Competition of Management and Operations of synchrotron-hosted analytical capabilities for Earth sciences research.”
4. State research reports (highlighting member collaborations) from each state to be sent to the group chair by late December/early January to compile the Group report.
5. The 2021 Annual Meeting venue: The group agreed to have the Annual Meeting either concurrently with the ASA/CSSA/SSSA Annual Meeting or the NSLS II workshop. Regardless of the locations, the group decided to facilitate remote connection to anyone who wants to join the meeting remotely.
6. The group leadership: The group discussed the importance of rotating group leadership positions among the group members to share responsibilities. Current leadership: Chair – Ganga Hettiarachchi, Vice-Chair/Secretary - Wei Zhang

Members of this project apply a wide range of analytical tools to elucidate mechanisms of soil organic carbon protection and cycling, transformation and transport of soil nutrients (e.g., N, P, Zn, etc.) and contaminants (e.g., As, Cd, Pb), the effect of climate change on soil structure, micro-scale hot-spots of greenhouse gas production within soil pore structure, colloid transport through soil, removal and in situ stabilization of soil contaminants, storage and transport of soil water and contaminant mobility, testing a few different wastewater treatment processes that will supply unrestricted reuse water and nutrient recovery, and time-resolved simultaneous measurement of atmospheric aerosols. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, many of our activities were limited. Several members were able to conduct X-ray absorption spectroscopic investigations remotely during this time (Delaware, Idaho, Kansas). Current research efforts focus on assessing the effects of sea-level rise on coastal arsenic contamination, minimizing potentially toxic element uptake by wheat and biofortification of wheat with micronutrients, and nutrient and contaminant (i.e., potentially toxic trace elements, insecticides) mobility and transport in soils (Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri). The particulate and other phosphorus release assessment is on-going at agricultural fields near three campuses (Illinois, Idaho, Kansas). A couple of members are working on phosphorus recovery from wastewaters (Idaho, Kansas).

The group organized a special session entitled “Particulate Matter in a Changing Environment: Implications for Agriculture and Human Health” as part of the Environmental Quality Division (S11) at the 2020 ASA/CSSA/SSSA Annual Meeting (Virtual) https://scisoc.confex.com/scisoc/2020am/prelim.cgi/Session/20939. This session included six presentations that encompassed various research topics covered by this research group. An hour-long live discussion session on the special section was held on 11/10/20 from 10:30-11:30 AM. It was well attended and the members and non-members discussed and shared their common research interests. 

Outputs:

Completed 2 Ph.D. students (KS, MO). 

Peer-reviewed:

Alghamdi, A., D.R. Presley, M.B. Kirkham, and G. Hettiarachchi. 2020. Efficacy of amendments to improve soil physical properties at an abandoned lead and zinc mine. Agroecosystems, Geosciences & Environment. 3: e20032. https://acsess.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/agg2.20032

Alagele, S.M., S.H. Anderson, and R.P. Udawatta.  2020.  Agroforestry, grass, biofuel crop, and row-crop management effects on soil water dynamics for claypan landscapes.  Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J.  84:203-219.

Alagele, S.M., S.H. Anderson, R.P. Udawatta, K.S. Veum, and L.M. Rankoth.  2020.  Long-term perennial management and cropping effects on soil microbial biomass for claypan watersheds.  Agron. J.  112:815-827.

Gantzer, C.J., and S.H. Anderson.  2020.  The Soil and Water Conservation Society - The society’s beginning.  pp. 1-11.  In J.A. Delgado, C.J. Gantzer, and G.J. Sassenrath.  Soil and Water Conservation Society:  A Celebration of 75 Years.  Soil and Water Conservation Society, Ankeny, Iowa.

Goldstein, A.H., W.W Nazaroff, C.J. Weschler, J. Williams, How Do Indoor Environments Affect Air Pollution Exposure?, Environmental Science & Technology, Article ASAP, DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.0c05727, 2020.HTML.

Haruna, S.I., and S.H. Anderson.  2020.  No-till farming systems for enhancing soil water storage.  pp. 213-231.  In Y. Dang, R.C. Dalal, and N.W. Menzies (eds.) No-Till Farming Systems for Sustainable Agriculture:  Challenges and Opportunities.  Springer Nature, Basel, Switzerland.

Haruna, S.I., S.H. Anderson, R.P. Udawatta, C.J. Gantzer, S. Cui, N.C. Phillips, and Y. Gao.  2020.  Improving soil physical properties through the use of cover crops:  A review.  Agrosystems, Geosciences & Environment.  3:e20105.  https://doi.or/10.1002/agg2.20105

Hobson, Chad, Harshad Kulkarni, Karen Johannesson, Anthony Bednar, Ryan Tappero, T. Jade Mohajerin, Paul Sheppard, Mark Witten, Ganga Hettiarachchi, Saugata Datta. 2020. Origin of tungsten and geochemical controls on its occurrence and mobilization in shallow sediments from Fallon, Nevada, USA, Chemosphere, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2020.127577.

LeTourneau, M., M. J. Marshall, M. R. Grant, P. M. Freeze, D.G. Strawn, B. Lai, A. Dohnalkova, J. B. Harsh, D. M. Weller and L. S. Thomashow (2020). "Phenazine-1-Carboxylic Acid-Producing Bacteria Enhance the Reactivity of Iron Minerals in Dryland and Irrigated Wheat Rhizospheres." Environmental Science & Technology. 53, 24, 14273–14284.

Liang, Y., C.N. Jen, R.J. Weber, P.K. Misztal, and A.H. Goldstein, Chemical Composition of PM2.5 in October 2017 Northern California Wildfire Plumes, Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2020-910, in review, 2020.

Ortega-Pieck, A., J. Norby, E. Brooks, D.G. Strawn, A. Crump, D. Huggins. (2020). Sources and Subsurface Transport of Dissolved Reactive Phosphorus in a Semiarid, No‐till Catchment with Complex Topography. Journal of Environmental Quality. 49.

Weeks, Joseph J., Jr. and Ganga M. Hettiarachchi. 2020. Source and Formulation Matter: New Insights into Phosphorus Fertilizer Fate and Transport in Mildly Calcareous Soils. Soil Sci. J. Am. 84:731-746.

Zuber, S.M., K.S. Veum, R.L. Myers, N.R. Kitchen, and S.H. Anderson.  2020.  Role of inherent soil characteristics in assessing soil health across Missouri.  Agricultural & Environmental Letters 5:e20021. https://doi.org/10.1002/ael2.20021

Books:

Strawn, D.G. H. Bohn, G. O’Connor. 2020. Soil Chemistry. 5th Edition. John Wiley and Sons, West Sussex, UK. 356 pages.

Presentations/Abstracts:

Particulate Matter in a Changing Environment: Implications for Agriculture and Human Health” as part of Environmental Quality Division (S11) at the 2020 ASA/CSSA/SSSA Annual Meeting (Virtual). Six presentations. https://scisoc.confex.com/scisoc/2020am/prelim.cgi/Session/20939

Al-Awwal, N., M. Mehdi, M. El-Dweik, and S.H. Anderson.  2020.  Specific method for the detection of viable E. Coli using nanoparticle immuno-fluorescent proves.  p. 204. Soil and Water Conservation Society International Conference Abstracts, 27-29 July, Des Moines, Iowa (virtual).

Alagele, S.M., S.H. Anderson, R.J. Udawatta, and K.S. Veum.  2020.  Long-term perennial management and cropping effects on soil microbial biomass for claypan watersheds.  p. 194. Soil and Water Conservation Society International Conference Abstracts, 27-29 July, Des Moines, Iowa (virtual).

Ansari, J., S.H. Anderson, F. Eivazi, and S. Bardhan.  2020.  Soil enzyme activity as affected by selected land management in floodplain systems.  p. 197. Soil and Water Conservation Society International Conference Abstracts, 27-29 July, Des Moines, Iowa (virtual).

Cercioglu, M., S.H. Anderson, and R.J. Udawatta.  2020.  Use of cover crops to improve soil quality:  A review.  p. 145. Soil and Water Conservation Society International Conference Abstracts, 27-29 July, Des Moines, Iowa (virtual).

Alagele, S.M., S.H. Anderson, R.P. Udawatta, and K.S. Veum.  2020.  Long-term perennial management and cropping effects on soil microbial biomass for claypan watersheds.  2020 American Society of Agronomy/Soil Science Society of America International Meeting Abstracts.  9-13 November, Phoenix, Arizona (virtual).

Al-Awwal, N., M. Mehdi, M. El-Dweik, and S.H. Anderson.  2020.  Nanoparticle immune-fluorescent probes as a specific method for detection of viable E. coli.  2020 American Society of Agronomy/Soil Science Society of America International Meeting Abstracts.  9-13 November, Phoenix, Arizona (virtual).

Ansari, J., S.H. Anderson, F. Eivazi, and S. Bardhan.  2020.  Floodplain land management effects on soil enzyme activity.  2020 American Society of Agronomy/Soil Science Society of America International Meeting Abstracts.  9-13 November, Phoenix, Arizona (virtual).

Rankoth, L.M., R.P. Udawatta, and S.H. Anderson.  2020.  Cover crop effects on micro-CT-measured geometrical pore parameters.  2020 American Society of Agronomy/Soil Science Society of America International Meeting Abstracts.  9-13 November, Phoenix, Arizona (virtual).

Zuber, S.M., K.S. Veum, R. Myers, N.R. Kitchen, and S.H. Anderson.  2020.  Crop management impacts on soil health across Missouri.  2020 American Society of Agronomy/Soil Science Society of America International Meeting Abstracts.  9-13 November, Phoenix, Arizona (virtual).