Progress 10/01/14 to 09/30/19
Outputs
Target Audience:Farmers, producers, land managers, students, researchers, extension agents, local business and sustainability leaders, institutions, and policy makers. We relied heavily on our diverse network of Hawaii's farmers, producers, and land managers across the entire range of natural and working lands on three islands for progress on our research and, in turn, provided knowledge, discourse, and data services. CTAHR extension agents also were invaluable resources. Other researchers and earth system modelers remain interested in climate change feedbacks with terrestrial systems and specifically managed agroecosystems. Government agencies such as NRCS and the University extension service providers use our results to advise agribusiness and sustainable management practices to land owners, managers, and farmers. Local business and sustainability leaders (such as those in the Hawaii Green Growth's Sustainability Business Forum) are making choices of crop and commitment to sustainable or organic certifications that meet the bottom line and are planning for future carbon and climate change mitigation regulations and carbon market trading. The State of Hawaii recently signed multiple climate change mitigation bills into law with direct relevance to our work - greenhouse gas emission reduction and formation of a carbon farming task force for improving soil health and entering into a carbon market or payment for ecosystem services agreement. PI Crow and Co-PI Deenik serve as CTAHR representatives in the State Greenhouse Gas Sequestration Task Force. Institutions and policy makers are reached through service on multiple local, state, and international working groups, including the City and County of Honolulu Resilience Office committee for Climate Change Mitigation, Hawaii State Planning Office's Greenhouse Gas Sequestration Task Force (formerly Carbon Farming Task Force), and Office of Hawaiian Affairs, International Soil Carbon Network, and the North American Carbon Program's Carbon Cycle Science Interagency Working Group; Science Leadership Group. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Three graduate student received training: one student is in the M.S. program (female) and two students are in the Ph.D. program (one male, one female). Christine Tallamy Glazer, Research Technician and P.I. of the Soils and Ecosystems Lab continued to develop analytical skills in the area of soil health assessment. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?PI Crow participated extensively in outreach and science communication opportunities through service on various working groups and task forces during this reporting period. For example: International Soil Carbon Network (Action Team co-Leader) Large Scale Assessment of soil carbon storage, stability, and susceptibility to disturbance. City & County of Honolulu Office of Climate Change, Sustainability & Resilience - Island Exposure & Innovation, Climate Change Mitigation Working Group (member) - As a participating city in the international 100 Resilient Cities initiative, the City & County of Honolulu is conducting multiple phases of resilience strategy planning, including tackling climate change by reducing emissions. August 2018-present. Hawaii State Planning Office Greenhouse Gas Sequestration Task Force (Member) - Established by Act 15, SHL 2018, the Task Force is comprised of 15 members from State agencies, nonprofit sector, private associations, and a researcher and an extension agent from CTAHR. The broad purpose is to expand and make permanent the task force, align the energy and sequestration efforts with climate initiatives, and make recommendations to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045. August 2018-present. Carbon Farming Task Force (Member) - Established by Act 33, SHL 2017, the Task Force is comprised of 15 members from State agencies, nonprofit sector, private associations, and a researcher and an extension agent from CTAHR. The broad purpose is to identify Hawaii agricultural, aquacultural, and agroforestry activities and best practices that provide carbon sequestration benefits, which may be used to establish a carbon farming certification. August 2017-2018. Invited Participant 2019 Invited participant: US Climate Alliance Western Regional Learning Lab, November 20-21, 2019, Portland, Oregon. 2019 Invited participant: American Farmland Trust's Timescales, a soil carbon conundrum, and actuating the benefits of accumulating carbon in landscapes. European Geophysical Union Meeting, Vienna, April 2019. 2018 Invited participant: The Nature Conservancy "Women on Climate" Summit - 10 women from each of five Pacific states convened to accelerate solutions for climate change, October 11-12, 2018 in Seattle, Washington. Invited Panelist Invited panelist: Speaker in the Agriculture breakout session panel. US Climate Alliance Western Regional Learning Lab, November 20-21, 2019, Portland, Oregon. Invited panelist: Cultivation, carbon and collaboration: Adapting the carbon model for Hawaii's farms and ranches, moderator Stephanie Mock. 2019 Hawaii Agriculture Conference, October 15-16, 2019, Honolulu, Hawaii. Invited seminars Actuating soil to mitigate climate change and improve health of productive landscapes in Hawaii. Center for Ecology and Hydrology, Natural Environmental Research Council, Edinburgh, Scotland, Visiting Scientist Seminar, June 2019. Invited speaker: American Farmland Trust's What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The unique diversity of Hawaii's geology and climate often results in environments that defy accepted paradigms or assumptions that underlying many of the predictive models that we rely on to project future conditions. The overall objective of this proposal was to improve our fundamental knowledge of and accounting for state-wide soil organic matter resources to facilitate more accurate predictions for the future as a result of land use or climate change, resource management decisions, and restoration/conservation efforts.A history of intensive monoculture agriculture has degraded the soils of the tropical islands that make up Hawaii and other U.S. territories. The adoption of soil management practices that build soil health remains low in these underrepresented regions. We aimed to develop resources to help producers, land managers, and decision makers understand the value of conservation systems that are individually tailored, regionally adapted, and producer-driven to improve soil health and C sequestration. The first research objective was to generate multiple geospatial soil carbon resource maps utilizing available resources. The ability to predict terrestrial ecosystem carbon (C) response to future changes in climate, land use, and management, depends in part on establishing an accurate baseline assessment of current soil C resources. The Hawaiian Islands span a large diversity of soils with unique physical, chemical, and mineralogical properties that affect the potential for belowground C sequestration statewide, making it particularly challenging to provide an accurate resource assessment. Quantifying soil C stocks are useful for accurately monitoring C sequestration, however there are still substantial gaps in knowledge of soil C stocks in many parts of the world, including the Hawaiian Islands. Two approaches to spatial projection of soil C were examined: an NRCS-soil survey product and an interpolation of soil C stocks from point data through geostatistical methods. The first approach projects soil C estimates from a pre-summarized attribute table within the Gridded Soil Survey Geographic (gSSURGO) database and the second approach combines values from the Kellogg Soil Survey Laboratory (KSSL) database with published and unpublished soil C stock values to interpolate soil C stocks using empirical Bayesian kriging. When total soil C stock was calculated across the state of Hawaii, an estimate of 460.7 Tg of C was calculated from the kriging product, but the gSSURGO product calculated 145.0 Tg of C, resulting in a difference of 315.7 Tg of C. The second research objective was to identify strengths and weaknesses in each of the mapping approaches and provide recommendations for improvement to each or a single, optimized mapping approach. This study examined the discrepancies that occurred between the different map products of soil C stock described above, and suggested a useful way of combining estimates for a more accurate projection of soil C stocks throughout the state. Each method produced different estimates in specific geographic regions, primarily in areas with low sampling, steep changes in topography, volcanic ash mineralogy, or a difference in land use. Identifying where areas of strong variability occur is useful to help guide future sampling to create a final map product which combines the strengths of each approach to best estimate the soil C resource across this diverse landscape and predict its response to future conditions. A follow up study is currently underway to generate a natural and working lands GIS layer and baseline C stock assessment for use in climate change mitigation and state-level C neutrality incentives programs. The third research objective was to develop the underlying components to a geospatial predictive model that enables the accurate projection of changes in soil organic matter resources in response to global changes, including climate and management.We undertook a series of studies to assess changes in soil C, GHG, and nutrient cycling in response to land use and management change and developed conceptual, empirical, and mathematical models specific to Hawaii's systems. These included development of new methodologies, measuring change with land use (e.g., eucalyptus plantation on former pasture) and management (e.g., intensive cultivation to zero-tillage and conventional to organic soil amendments). More broadly, we contributed to international efforts to establish new approaches and research foci to achieve greater understanding and representation of soil systems in earth system models that operate at the global scale. The first extension objective was to assess stakeholder perception of soil organic matter and identify constraints and opportunities affecting adoption of soil organic matter management. Optimizing resources for improving soil health in Hawaii requires understanding the needs of the audience, assessing stakeholder perception of soil organic matter, and identifying both constraints and opportunities affecting adoption of soil health management. Farmers agreed soil health was important (97%) and that soil testing is valuable (89%) to them. Interest in adapting farm management practices to improve soil health, testing soil health regularly, and an online resource to help manage soil health was strong (all 91%). Opportunities of improvement are: increasing the quality of resources available to farmers looking to improve soil management (74% of farmers agreed there is conflicting advice from soil health agencies/extension groups) and developing the scope of education and understanding of interdisciplinary potential of land uses regarding soil health (69% of farmers agreed agencies/extension groups concerned with soil health fail to understand landholder objectives). On average, the survey participants reported that $90 is a fair and reasonable price for a complete annual soil health test. The second extension objective was to develop web-based tools to increase stakeholder knowledge of soil organic matter. We currently are beta testing an online Hawaii Soil Health Tool that serves as a learning hub, recommendation tool, and record for actions taken to improve management and document changes in soil health over time. The website needs was purpose-built to collect data over time in order to provide wide reach for the services and improve the prediction and monitoring accuracy. The third extension objective was to develop soil testing methodologies to quantitatively assess soil management strategies on soil health. Tropical islands that make up Hawaii and other U.S. territories such as Pohnpei, American Samoa, and Puerto Rico.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Sch�del, C., Beem-Miller, J., Aziz Rad, M., Crow, S.E., Hicks Pries, C., Ernakovich, J., Hoyt, A.M., Plante, A., Stoner, S., Treat, C.C., and Sierra, C. A. 2020. Decomposability of Soil Organic Matter Over Time: The Soil Incubation Database (SIDb, version 1.0) and Guidance for Incubation Procedures, Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2019-184
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Lawrence, C.R., Beem-Miller, J., Hoyt, A.M., Monroe, G., Sierra, C.A., Stoner, S., Heckman, K., Blankinship, J.C., Crow, S.E., McNicol, G., Trumbore, S., Levine, P.A., Vinduakov�, O., Todd-Brown, K., Rasmussen, C., Hicks Pries, C.E., Sch�del, C., McFarlane, K., Doetterl, S., Hatt�, C., He, Y., Treat, C., Harden, J.W., Torn, M.S., Estop-Aragon�s, C., Asefaw Berhe, A., Keiluweit, M., Marin-Spiotta, E., Plante, A.F., Thomson, A., Schimel, J.P., Vaughn, L.J.S., and Wagai, R. 2020. An Open Source Database for the Synthesis of Soil Radiocarbon Data: ISRaD version 1.0, Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2019-55
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Pawlowski*, M., Meki, M.N., Kiniry, J., and Crow, S.E. 2018. Carbon Budgets of Potential Tropical Perennial Grass Cropping Scenarios for Bioenergy Feedstock Production on Maui. Carbon Balance and Management 13:17. doi:10.1186/s13021-018-0102-8
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Crow, S.E., Harden, J.W., and Sierra, C.A. 2019. Soil Health and Soil Carbon: A Common Ground for Actuating Resilience and Climate Change Mitigation. American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, December 2019. (contributed poster)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Crow, S.E. 2019. Timescales, a Soil Carbon Conundrum, and Actuating the Benefits of Accumulating Carbon in Landscapes. European Geophysical Union Meeting, Vienna, April 2019. (invited oral)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Crow, S.E., Hubanks*, H.L., Deenik, J.L., Tallamy Glazer, C.J., Vizka*, E., and Nguyen, N. 2019. The Legacy of Intensive Land Use on Soil Health and Function. European Geophysical Union Meeting, Vienna, April 2019. (contributed abstract, accepted)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Hubanks*, H.L., Deenik, J.L., Tallamy Glazer, C.J., and Crow, S.E. 2019. Towards a Soil Health Index: Identifying Sensitive Indicators of Change Across Land Use and Soil Diversity. Soil Science Society of America International Soils Meeting, San Diego, CA, January 2019. (contributed poster)
|
Progress 10/01/17 to 09/30/18
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audiences during this reporting period included farmers, producers, land managers, students, researchers, extension agents, local business and sustainability leaders, institutions, and policy makers. We relied heavily on our diverse network of Hawaii's farmers, producers, and land managers across the entire range of natural and working lands on three islands for progress on our research and, in turn, provided knowledge, discourse, and data services. CTAHR extension agents also were invaluable resources. Other researchers and earth system modelers remain interested in climate change feedbacks with terrestrial systems and specifically managed agroecosystems. Government agencies such as NRCS and the University extension service providers use our results to advise agribusiness and sustainable management practices to land owners, managers, and farmers. Local business and sustainability leaders (such as those in the Hawaii Green Growth's Sustainability Business Forum) are making choices of crop and commitment to sustainable or organic certifications that meet the bottom line and are planning for future carbon and climate change mitigation regulations and carbon market trading. The State of Hawaii recently signed multiple climate change mitigation bills into law with direct relevance to our work - greenhouse gas emission reduction and formation of a carbon farming task force for improving soil health and entering into a carbon market or payment for ecosystem services agreement. PI Crow and Co-PI Deenik serve at CTAHR representatives in the State Greenhouse Gas Sequestration Task Force. Institutions and policy makers are reached through service on multiple local, state, and international working groups, including the City and County of Honolulu Resilience Office committee for Climate Change Mitigation, Hawaii State Planning Office's Greenhouse Gas Sequestration Task Force (formerly Carbon Farming Task Force), and Office of Hawaiian Affairs Kukaniloko Master Planning Working Group, International Soil Carbon Network, and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis What lies below? Improving quantification and prediction of soil carbon storage, stability, and susceptibility to disturbance. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Two undergraduate students (female, one a veteran of the U.S. Navy) worked as research assistants in the Soils and Ecosystems Lab. One undergraduate student (female, veteran of the U.S. Navy) received additional training in scanning electron microscopy and science writing and communication of her independent research results. One undergraduate (female) completed an internship to document the diversity of Hawaii farmer and producers in multimedia. Three graduate students received training: one student is in the M.S. program (female) and two students are in the Ph.D. program (one male, one female). Christine Tallamy Glazer, Research Technician and P.I. of the Soils and Ecosystems Lab continued to develop analytical skills in the area of soil health assessment. P.I. Crow instructed a graduate course titled "Advanced Topics in NREM: Quantitative Ecosystem Carbon" (NREM691) in concepts and analytical methods for understanding and assessing terrestrial ecosystem carbon across broad time scales and geographic regions at the University of Hawaii Manoa. Ten upper division undergraduate and graduate (Master of Environmental Management, M.S., and Ph.D. students) enrolled and completed the course. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?PI Crow participated extensively in outreach and science communication opportunities through service on various working groups and task forces during this reporting period. For example: International Soil Carbon Network (Action Team co-Leader) Large Scale Assessment of soil carbon storage, stability, and susceptibility to disturbance. U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis (co-P.I.) What lies below? Improving quantification and prediction of soil carbon storage, stability, and susceptibility to disturbance. City & County of Honolulu Office of Climate Change, Sustainability & Resilience - Island Exposure & Innovation, Climate Change Mitigation Working Group (member) - As a participating city in the international 100 Resilient Cities initiative, the City & County of Honolulu is conducting multiple phases of resilience strategy planning, including tackling climate change by reducing emissions. August 2018-present. Hawaii State Planning Office Greenhouse Gas Sequestration Task Force (Member) - Established by Act 15, SHL 2018, the Task Force is comprised of 15 members from State agencies, nonprofit sector, private associations, and a researcher and an extension agent from CTAHR. The broad purpose is to expand and make permanent the task force, align the energy and sequestration efforts with climate initiatives, and make recommendations to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045. August 2018-present. Carbon Farming Task Force (Member) - Established by Act 33, SHL 2017, the Task Force is comprised of 15 members from State agencies, nonprofit sector, private associations, and a researcher and an extension agent from CTAHR. The broad purpose is to identify Hawaii agricultural, aquacultural, and agroforestry activities and best practices that provide carbon sequestration benefits, which may be used to establish a carbon farming certification. August 2017-2018. Office of Hawaiian Affairs Kukaniloko Master Planning Working Group (Member) - Office of Hawaiian Affairs acquisition and development of agricultural land associated with the Kukaniloko cultural site requires a master plan. The working group is comprised of members with expertise in cultural and natural resource management, agriculture, archaeology, business and marketing, education, Hawaiian culture, and other fields of study such as environmental and property law. The working group will advise OHA, either collectively or individually, in the creation of the master plan. January 2017-September 2018. In addition, PI Crow was an invited participant in the US Climate Alliance Learning Lab and Climate Action Reserve's North American Carbon World 2018 conference, and invited Panelist on Carbon Farming and Energy Crops at the Maui Energy Conference - Decarbonization: A Business Opportunity for Innovative Communities, Kahului, Maui, March 2018. PI Crow gave three invited seminars at the Lyon Arboretum Centennial Symposium, East-West Center, September 2018, UH Manoa NREM Departmental seminar series, October 2017 and the University of Arizona, Soil Water and Environmental Science, Departmental Seminar Series, October 2017. Seven peer-reviewed articles and one book section were published. Associated research was presented at three professional scientific conferences. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The web-based decision support and planning tools are under development and we will network with Colorado State University researchers and the NRCS to initialize established models and web-based carbon and GHG sequestration tools for Hawaii and develop novel Hawaii-specific carbon models and soil health tools for producers and decision makers. Soil health results will be returned to the farmers, producers, and managers that contributed to initial assessment with follow up visits from students, researchers, and extension agents. A peer-reviewed article on soil health for Hawaii that addresses the questions of what metrics comprise the critical factors necessary to develop an organic matter-based soil health index for Hawaii's diverse, tropical soils will be written and in the publication process. Continued development of a soil health assessment for Hawaii by moving into on-farm trials and monitoring.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Reclamation of abandoned agricultural lands, reforestation of intensively cultivated lands, and improved management practices in agroecosystems are frequently discussed as potential carbon drawdown strategies with the co-benefit of improved soil health and function. We found that dynamic aspects of land use and management was more important to determining soil health parameters than inherent soil properties and taxonomic classification. Embedded within land use and management, the legacy of intensive cultivation on soil health, regardless of the current practices, was evident. That is, sites with a common intensive agricultural history, even if currently in forest or organic agriculture, were similar to one another and less healthy than their counterparts without that legacy. Direct comparison of land uses within soil classification also showed poor soil health that was more consistent with the intensive agricultural history, measured as disturbance, than the current management. For example, a high fertility (Mollisol), organic cropland site was more similar in soil health to conventional crop systems and unmanaged, previously intensively cultivated sites than other fertile soils and organic management systems. For this organic site, measures of biological health including 24-hr respiration burst and beta-glucosaminidase activity were less than half the values of conventional and abandoned agricultural Mollisols of similar soil series. We propose further division of land use classification to include the legacy of past intensive cultivation, a reduced list of soil health parameters to comprise a soil health index for Hawaii and other subtropical-tropical regions, and a cropland-specific analytical path more centered on decision-support and yield improvements for farmers seeking to improve both soil health and livelihood. More than a century of intensive sugarcane and pineapple agriculture degraded most of the productive lands in Hawaii. Recognition and understanding of the unique challenges posed by the reclamation, reforestation, or improved management of previously intensively cultivated lands is critical for realistic expectations of carbon drawdown and productivity and provision of adequate support for those willing to invest in improving degraded lands. Optimizing resources for improving soil health in Hawaii requires understanding the needs of the audience, assessing stakeholder perception of soil organic matter, and identifying both constraints and opportunities affecting adoption of soil health management. During the soil collection from the network of farmers, producers, and managers in Hawaii, a series of survey questions was completed with eight participating land managers designed to explore the perspectives associated with soil testing use in Hawai'i, as well as collect information for future research in potential approaches for improvement. The land manager survey consisted of various sections in the form of multiple choice, mental mapping, Likert scales, and open response. Small numbers in survey responses limits conclusions from the reported information but provided insights to assist in further research on social perspectives of soil health in Hawai'i. Farmers agreed soil health was important (97%) and that soil testing is valuable (89%) to them. Interest in adapting farm management practices to improve soil health, testing soil health regularly, and an online resource to help manage soil health was strong (all 91%). Opportunities of improvement are: increasing the quality of resources available to farmers looking to improve soil management (74% of farmers agreed there is conflicting advice from soil health agencies/extension groups) and developing the scope of education and understanding of interdisciplinary potential of land uses regarding soil health (69% of farmers agreed agencies/extension groups concerned with soil health fail to understand landholder objectives). On average, the survey participants reported that $90 is a fair and reasonable price for a complete annual soil health test. Next steps to better connect and apply soil science with the Hawai'i farmer audience are to develop and market reliable soil health testing, identify ways to better integrate farmer values into collaborating decision-making positions in science, government, and outreach personnel, and provide concise Hawai'i-specific management strategies for improving soil health and plant disease.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Pawlowski, M., Meki, M.N., Kiniry, J., and Crow, S.E. 2018. Carbon budgets of potential tropical perennial grass cropping scenarios for bioenergy feedstock production on Maui. Carbon Balance Manag. 2018 Sep 24;13(1):17. doi:10.1186/s13021-018-0102-8.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Blankinship, J.C., Berhe, A.A., Crow, S.E., Druhan, J.L., Heckman, K.A., Keiluweit, M., Lawrence, C.R., Marín-Spiotta, E., Plante, A.F., Rasmussen, C., Schädel, C., Schimel, J.P., Sierra, C.A., Thompson, A., Wagai, R., and Wieder, W.R. 2018. Improving understanding of soil organic matter dynamics by triangulating theories, measurement, and models. Biogeochemistry 140:1-13. doi:10.1007/s10533-018-0478-2
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Lajtha, K., Bowden, R.D., Crow, S.E., Fekete, I., Kotroczó, Z., Plante, A., Simpson, M.J., and Nadelhoffer, K.J. 2018. The detrital input and removal treatment (DIRT) network: Insights into soil carbon stabilization. Science of the Total Environment 640-641:1112-1120. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.05.388
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Crow, S.E. and Sierra, C.A. 2018. Dynamic, intermediate soil carbon pools may drive future responsiveness to environmental change. Journal of Environmental Quality 47:607-616. doi:10.2134/jeq2017.07.0280
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Crow, S.E., Deem, L.M., Sierra, C.A., and Wells, J.M. 2018. Belowground carbon dynamics in tropical perennial C4 grass agroecosystems. Frontiers in Environmental Science 6:1-18. doi:10.3389/fenvs.2018.00018
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Rasmussen, C., Heckman, K.A., Wieder, W.R., Keiluweit, M., Lawrence, C.R., Berhe, A.A., Blankinship, J.C., Crow, S.E., Druhan, J.L.,Marín-Spiotta, E., Plante, A.F., Pries, C.H., Rasmussen, C., Schädel, C., Schimel, J.P., Sierra, C.A., Thompson, A., and Wagai, R. 2018. Beyond clay: towards an improved set of variables for predicting soil organic matter content. Biogeochemistry 137:297. doi:10.1007/s10533-018-0424-3
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Yu, J., Deem, L.M., Crow, S.E., Deenik, J.L., and Penton, C.R. 2017. Biochar application influences on microbial assemblage complexity and composition due to soil and bioenergy crop type interactions. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 117:97-107. doi:10.1016/j.soilbio.2017.11.017
- Type:
Book Chapters
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Hubanks, H., Deenik, J.L., and Crow, S.E. 2018. Getting the dirt on soil health and management. Reference Module in Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-409548-9.10903-0
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Yu, J., Deem, L.M., Crow, S.E., Deenik, J.L, and Penton, C.R. 2018. Soil microbial community response to two years of biochar amendment revealed by metagenomics. International Society for Microbial Ecology Symposium, Leipzig, Germany, August 2018.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Beem-Miller, J., Lawrence, C., Blankinship, J., Hoyt, A., Stoner, S., Sierra, C., Monroe, G., McNicol, G., He, Y., Hatté, C., Treat, C., Crow, S.E., Heckman, K., Keiluweit, M., and Trumbore, S. 2018. From fractions to fluxes: The international soil radiocarbon database. Radiocarbon Conference, Trondheim, Norway, June 2018.
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Progress 10/01/16 to 09/30/17
Outputs
Target Audience:Our target audiences during this reporting period included farmers, researchers, NRCS and extension agents, Office of Naval Research, military leadership, and private industry/business leaders. We targeted farmers who are making decisions about cropping systems and management strategies in a changing environment. Researchers and earth system modelers are interested in climate change feedbacks of terrestrial ecosystems, specifically managed agroecosystems. Government agencies such as NRCS and the University extension service providers use our results to advise agribusiness and sustainable management practices to land owners, managers, and farmers. Private business/industry partners are making choices of crop and commitment to sustainable or organic certifications that meet the bottom line, and are planning for future carbon and climate change mitigation regulations and carbon market trading. The State of Hawaii signed two climate change mitigation into law with direct relevance to our work - greenhouse gas emission reduction and formation of a carbon farming task force for improving soil health and entering into a carbon market or payment for ecosystem services agreement. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Two undergraduate students (1 male, 1 female) worked as research assistants in soil processing lab, one senior student (male) was in a leadership position. One undergraduate student (female, veteran of the U.S. Navy) worked as an intern and subsequently completed an independent research project in the lab. Three graduate students received training: two students are in the M.S. program (one male, Native Hawaiian descent, one female) and another is in Ph.D. program (male). How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?PI Crow participated in the "Think Globally, Act Locally Alternative Fuel initiatives, Carbon Sequestration and Biocrop Results in Hawaii" seminar at the Bioeconomy Hawaii Forum 2017 as part of the "Future of Biofuels" held at the State of Hawaii Capitol Auditorium, Honolulu, HI, January 2017. We held a final project update meeting with local industrial partners at Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar and parent company Alexander & Baldwin who are transitioning from intensive sugarcane cultivation into diversified production systems with a commitment to reduced or zero tillage, intercropping and over winter leguminous cover crop rotations, and agroforestry practices on Maui. Representatives from our funders, Office of Naval Research and the USDA-Agricultural Research Service were updated on progress. Discussions with NRCS Soil Health Initiative Leadership in the western region about the development of methods and validation of results in Hawaii were fruitful. Presentations of results were made a various local and international venues to researchers and crop modelers with similar interests in sustainable production systems. PI Crow delivered two seminars: 1) The low-carbon revolution: harnessing the nature and properties of soil to mitigate climate change and improve the health of managed ecosystems in Hawaii. University of Arizona, Soil Water and Environmental Science, Departmental Seminar Series, October 2017, and 2) Carbon balance and market feasibility in Hawaii. Lunch and learn for Monitoring Analytics (Eagleville, PA), the Independent Market Monitor for PJM Interconnection, which is responsible for monitoring compliance with the rules, standards, procedures and practices of energy markets, March 2017. A presentation on the current science of carbon sequestration was made at the inaugural meeting of the Carbon Farming Task Force on September 15, 2017. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In the coming year, much effort will be placed towards the extension objectives of developing soil testing methodologies through our supplemental award. Soil health is a topic of concern among a growing population of small-scale agriculturalists and an increasingly vocal public promoting sustainable and organic agriculture. It is also the current focus of a national initiative through the USDA-NRCS to provide relevant and useful information to farmers to improve long-term ecosystem function of agricultural soils. A fundamental tenet of sustainable agriculture is the philosophy that sustainability is underpinned by maintaining a "healthy" soil. While there may be some agreement on the general academic definition of soil health as "...the continued capacity of soil to function as a vital living system, within ecosystem and land-use boundaries, to sustain biological productivity, maintain the quality of air and water environments, and promote plant, animal, and human health" (Doran et al., 1996), there remains considerable debate among the soil science community as to how soil health should be measured. There is a distinct need to provide geographically specific information for the USDA-NRCS Soil Health Initiative, to provide critical guidance in soil management planning. Through this continued work, we hope to answer: what metrics comprise the critical factors necessary to develop an organic matter-based soil health index for Hawaii's diverse, tropical soils? Further, what advice do we provide Hawaii (and Pacific Islander) farmers for management to improve soil health for greater resilience and sustainability of our agroecosystems in the future? Our long-term goal of our USDA NIFA award is to engage and empower farmers and land managers to improve soil health and promote carbon sequestration through the implementation of an individualized, yet routine soil test and the development of an interactive web-based data and information management and planning tool. The output of this project will support implementation of policy with accessible, science-based recommendation tools, improve the predictive capacity of our soil health and carbon sequestration tools, and maximize our outreach and impact through crowdsourcing and passive, voluntary data collection. Farmers will improve viability of their cost structure via enhanced soil quality (i.e., improved nutrient cycles and water dynamics) in agroecosystems and certifiable carbon sequestration, thereby enabling farmer compensation for ecosystem services such as climate change mitigation. We will make progress on multiple supporting objectives: Initiate development of web tool and project blog. Engage farmers using community-based participatory approaches to assess soil health status and carbon sequestration and to identify appropriate strategies to improve soil health and carbon sequestration potential. Synthesize current data available for tropical and subtropical soil organic matter stabilization using templates and web- based data management and visualization tool developed by a recent USGS Powell Center Working Group and recognized by the international soil carbon network and critical zone observatories. Develop a soil collection kit and web-based integrated planning tool to record, monitor, and guide land use decision-making for enhanced soil health and carbon sequestration. Plan first active workshop training for extension agents, farmers, and NRCS field offices; develop learning hub for policymakers and agencies.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
High diversity of climate, topography, and soils creates a complex natural landscape in Hawaii and a grand challenge for meeting sustainability and resilience commitments related to land use. Due to our work in both the mechanistic aspects of soil carbon stabilization/destabilization and on-farm trials in Hawaii, we currently have understanding of how landscape properties affect the capacity for carbon to be sequestered in biomass and soils and place-based data to show how land use and management changes will affect soil health and carbon stock. A data synthesis and networking grant was proposed to the USDA NIFA Foundational Grants opportunity and ultimately funded to build a soil health and carbon sequestration web tool using our current knowledge. Because of the heterogeneity of Hawaiian landscapes and rich diversity of people who rely on and care for the land, a more detailed knowledge and nuanced understanding of the socio-ecological system required for a responsible pathway to implementation of payment for ecosystems services and entrance to carbon markets. In particular, we are focusing on farmers who work the land to provide food, energy, and fiber and need to protect both their soil resource and economic bottom-line. A network of farmers, constrained by soil type, vegetable production, conventional and organic practices, was established to provide soil samples for the establishment of a soil health index specific to Hawaii. Twenty-six parameters associated with soil health will be measured and reduced to critical three to seven parameters that are most relevant for Hawaiian systems. This index will be refined and validated with on-farm trials. Understanding farmer's perceptions of soil health and barriers to adoption are critical to the success of a soil health campaign. We initiated interviews of farmers that will provide a basis for developing a survey for a mental-modeling exercise to help us understand the current state of knowledge of farmers on soil health and carbon sequestration. This trans-disciplinary approach that coalesces farmers' perspectives on soil health and the tool we are building and establishes on-farm field trials to target critical site data over time. The socio-ecological data will feedback to our tool using machine-learning techniques to improve our predictive capacity for soil health and carbon sequestration with adoption of a land use or management system. Hawaii is at a critical juncture in its agricultural pathway; an opportunity emerged from the collapse of plantation agriculture and a strong need for guidance to a more sustainable diversified agro-ecological landscape exists. Both PIs hold seats on the newly formed Carbon Farming Task Force administered by the State Planning Office per Act 33, SLH 2017 signed into law by Gov. David Ige. The purpose of the Task Force is to identify practices to improve soil health and promote carbon sequestration in the state's agricultural, aquacultural, and agroforestry sectors. Our work fills a critical gap in our ability to make accessible a science-based recommendation tool to facilitate a responsible pathway to entering into a payment for ecosystem services or carbon market framework.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Crow, S.E., Deem, L.M., Wells, J.M., and Sierra, C.A. 2017. Belowground carbon dynamics in tropical perennial C4 grass agroecosystems managed for sustainable biofuel production. Frontiers in Environmental Science. (in revision; post-review).
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Crow, S.E. and Sierra, C.A. 2017. Dynamic intermediate soil carbon pools may drive future responsiveness to environmental change. Journal Of Environmental Quality. (in revision; post-review).
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Pawlowski, M., Meki, M.N., Kiniry, J., and Crow, S.E. 2017. Carbon budgets of potential tropical perennial grass cropping scenarios for bioenergy feedstock production on Maui. Carbon Management. (in review).
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Yu, J., Deem, L.M., Crow, S.E., Deenik, J.L., and Penton, C.R. 2017. Biochar application influences on microbial assemblage complexity and composition due to soil and bioenergy crop type interactions. Soil Biology and Biochemistry. (in review).
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Lajtha, K., Bowden, R.D., Crow, S.E., Fekete, I., Kotrocz�, Z., Plante, A., Simpson, M., and Nadelhoffer, K. 2017. The Detrital Input and Removal Treatment (DIRT) project: insights into carbon stabilization. Science of the Total Environment. (in review).
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
J.C. Blankinship, S.E. Crow, A.A. Berhe, J.L. Druhan, K.A. Heckman, M. Keiluweit, C.R. Lawrence, E. Mar�n-Spiotta, A.F. Plante, C. Rasmussen, C. Sch�del, J.P. Schimel, C.A. Sierra, A.Thompson, R.Wagai, and W.R. Wieder. 2017. Improving understanding of soil organic matter dynamics by triangulating theories, measurement, and models. Biogeochemistry, (in review).
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
J. Harden, G. Hugelius, A. Anders, J. Blankinship, B. Ben-Lamberty, C. Lawrence, J. Loisel, A. Malhotra, R. Jackson, S. Ogle, C. Philips, R. Ryals, K. Todd-Brown, R. Vargas, S. Vargas, F. Cotrufo, M. Keiluweit, K. Heckman, S.E. Crow, W. Silver, M. DeLonge, and L. Nave. 2017. Networking our science to characterize the state, vulnerabilities, and management opportunities of soil organic matter. Global Change Biology (in press).
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Jackson, R.B., Lajtha, K., Crow, S.E., Hugelius, G., Kramer, M.G., and Pi�eiro, G. 2017. The ecology of soil carbon: pools, vulnerabilities, and biotic and abiotic controls. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics. (in press).
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Meki, M.N., Ogoshi, R.M., Kiniry, J.R., Crow, S.E., Youkhana, A.H., Nakahata, M., and Littlejohn, K. 2017. Performance evaluation of biomass sorghum in Hawaii and Texas. Industrial Crops and Products, 103: 257-266. doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2017.04.014.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Youkhana, A.H., Ogoshi, R.M., Kiniry, J.R., Meki, M.N., Nakahata, M.H., and Crow S.E. 2017. Allometric models for predicting aboveground biomass and carbon stock of tropical perennial C4 grasses in Hawaii. Frontiers in Plant Science 8:650. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2017.00650
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Pawlowski, M.N., Crow, S.E., Meki, M.N., Kiniry, J.R., Taylor, A.D., Ogoshi, R., Youkhana, A., and Nakahata, M.H. 2017. Field-based estimates of global warming potential in bioenergy systems of Hawaii: Crop choice and deficit irrigation. PLoS ONE 12(1): e0168510. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0168510
- Type:
Book Chapters
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Wells, J.M., Crow, S.E., Meki, M.N., Sierra, C.A., Carlson, K.M., Youkhana, A., Richardson, D., and Deem, L. 2017. Maximizing soil carbon sequestration: Assessing procedural barriers to carbon management in cultivated tropical perennial grass systems. Book chapter in Carbon Storage and Capture, Yun, E.Y. InTech. http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/66741
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Lajtha, K., Bowden, R.D., Crow, S.E., et al. 2017. The Detrital Input and Removal Treatment (DIRT) Network. In: Reference Module in Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences. Elsevier. DOI:10.1016/B978-0-12-409548-9.09774-8
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Deem, L.M. and Crow, S.E. 2017. Biochar. In: Reference Module in Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences. Elsevier. DOI:10.1016/B978-0-12-409548-9.10524-X
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Wells, J.M., Crow, S.E., Deenik, J., Carlson, K., and Hashimoto, A. 2017. Understanding soil carbon storage across heterogeneous landscapes: carbon offsets and sustainability of tropical biomass production systems. 25th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, Stockholm, Sweden, June 2017. (contributed oral).
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Wells, J.M., Crow, S.E., Khanal, S.K., Turn, S.Q., and Hashimoto, A. 2017. Effects of anaerobic digestion and hot water pretreatment on lignin. 25th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, Stockholm, Sweden, June 2017. (contributed oral).
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Crow, S.E., Lazaro, M.K., Heckman, K.A., Lawrence, C.R., Giardina, C.P., and Litton, C.M. 2016. Components of complex non-crystalline mineralogy contribute differently to soil carbon storage and turnover. American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, December 2016. (contributed poster).
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
J.C. Blankinship, S.E. Crow, J. Schimel, C.A. Sierra, C. Schaedel, A.F. Plante, A.A. Thompson, A.A Berhe, J.L. Druhan, K.A. Heckman, M. Keiluweit, C.R. Lawrence, E. Marin-Spiotta, C. Rasmussen, R. Wagai, and W.R. Wieder. 2016. The soil carbon paradigm shift: Triangulating theories, measurements, and models. American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, December 2016. (contributed oral).
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
C. Rasmussen, A.A. Berhe, J.C. Blankinship, S.E. Crow, J.L. Druhan, K.A. Heckman, M. Keiluweit, C.R. Lawrence, E. Marin-Spiotta, A.F. Plante, C. Schaedel, J. Schimel, C.A. Sierra, A. Thompson, R. Wagai, and W.R. Wieder. Beyond clay using selective extractions to improve predictions of soil carbon content. American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, December 2016. (contributed oral).
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
A.A. Thompson, A.A. Berhe, J.C. Blankinship, S.E. Crow, J.L. Druhan, K.A. Heckman, M. Keiluweit, C.R. Lawrence, E. Marin-Spiotta, A.F. Plante, C. Rasmussen, C. Schaedel, J. Schimel, C.A. Sierra, A. Thompson, R. Wagai, and W.R. Wieder. 2016. Representation of diffusion controlled carbon stabilization in reactive transport models. American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, December 2016. (contributed poster).
|
Progress 10/01/15 to 09/30/16
Outputs
Target Audience:Our target audiences during this reporting period included farmers, researchers, NRCS and extension agents, Office of Naval Research, military leadership, and private industry/business leaders. We targeted farmers who are making decisions about cropping systems and management strategies in a changing environment. Researchers and earth system modelers are interested in climate change feedbacks of terrestrial ecosystems, specifically managed agroecosystems. Government agencies such as NRCS and the University extension service providers use our results to advise agribusiness and sustainable management practices to land owners, managers, and farmers. Private business/industry partners are making choices of crop and commitment to sustainable or organic certifications that meet the bottom line, and are planning for future carbon and climate change mitigation regulations and carbon market trading. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Six undergraduate students (3 male, 3 female) work as research assistants in soil processing lab, one senior student (male) is in a leadership position. Another undergraduate is conducting her internship by extracting and analyzing samples for various forms of Fe and Al that may contribute to soil carbon sequestration potential. Two students graduated with M.S. degrees (one female, one male). One student in in the M.S. program (male, Native Hawaiian descent) and another is in Ph.D. program (male). How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Our efforts to reach our stakeholders included participation in APRISE 2016, Asia Pacific Resilience Innovation Summit & Expo, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam through conversations in breakout groups and service on a panel of academic, private sector, and military leadership to discuss ongoing efforts in the biofuels space, and discuss the opportunities and challenges specific to biofuels R&D, production, and integration. We held an annual project update meetings with local industrial partners at Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar and parent company Alexander & Baldwin who are transitioning from intensive sugarcane cultivation into diversified production systems with a commitment to reduced or zero tillage, intercropping and over winter leguminous cover crop rotations, and agroforestry practices on Maui. Representatives from our funders, Office of Naval Research and the USDA-Agricultural Research Service were updated on progress. The potential use of biochar in Hawaii as a soil amendment was discussed with industry leaders from the mainland US and Hawaii at a conference at Oregon State University, Biochar 2016 The Synergy of Science and Industry: Biochar's connection to Ecology, Soil, Food, and Energy. Discussions with NRCS Soil Health Initiative Leadership in the western region about the development of methods and validation of results in Hawaii were fruitful. Presentations of results were made a various local and international venues to researchers and crop modelers with similar interests in sustainable production systems. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Models derived from empirical data to describe the ecosystem properties controlling the accumulation of soil organic carbon under multiple management regimes of irrigation, conservation tillage, and land use change from intensive cultivation to zero-tillage perennial grasses will be transferred to other field sites and validated. Long-term datasets on soil carbon change following land use change from intensive cultivation to zero-tillage management will be finalized. In the coming year, much effort will be placed towards the extension objectives of developing soil testing methodologies through our supplemental award. Soil health is a topic of concern among a growing population of small-scale agriculturalists and an increasingly vocal public promoting sustainable and organic agriculture. It is also the current focus of a national initiative through the USDA-NRCS to provide relevant and useful information to farmers to improve long-term ecosystem function of agricultural soils. A fundamental tenet of sustainable agriculture is the philosophy that sustainability is underpinned by maintaining a "healthy" soil. While there may be some agreement on the general academic definition of soil health as "...the continued capacity of soil to function as a vital living system, within ecosystem and land-use boundaries, to sustain biological productivity, maintain the quality of air and water environments, and promote plant, animal, and human health" (Doran et al., 1996), there remains considerable debate among the soil science community as to how soil health should be measured. There is a distinct need to provide geographically specific information for the USDA-NRCS Soil Health Initiative, to provide critical guidance in soil management planning. Through this work, we hope to answer: what metrics comprise the critical factors necessary to develop an organic matter-based soil health index for Hawaii's diverse, tropical soils? Further, what advice do we provide Hawaii (and Pacific Islander) farmers for management to improve soil health for greater resilience and sustainability of our agroecosystems in the future?
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Research accomplishments were largely towards the goal of developing the underlying components to a geospatial predictive model that enables the accurate projection of changes in soil organic matter resources in response to global changes, management. To this end, we finalized empirical datasets from two field studies of the carbon and greenhouse gas balance and derived models to describe the ecosystem properties controlling the accumulation of soil organic carbon under multiple management regimes of irrigation, conservation tillage, and land use change from intensive cultivation to zero-tillage perennial grasses. Parallel datasets were also collected testing these conceptual models in combination with biochar soil amendment. Extension objectives were met by increased conversation with local partners and international colleagues about the value of soil organic matter and building soil health as common goals. Hawaii's governor proposed increasing local food production by 50% by 2020 even as land area in active agriculture declines and designated agricultural land is put into development. Efforts increased to convey the need to support all farmers, conventional and organic and increase awareness of the overarching role of soil organic matter in building and maintaining soil function. In conversation with NRCS Soil Health Initiative leaders for the western region, we developed strong partnerships to play a role in methodology testing and validation for Hawaii's unique soils and needs. We sought and were awarded supplemental Hatch funds to facilitate this effort in the coming years.
Publications
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Richardson*, D., Crow, S., Youkhana, A., Moore-Kucera, J., Ogoshi, R., Meki, M.N., Kiniry, J.R., Nakahata, M. 2015. Root biomass and microbial response to deficit irrigation treatments in the rhizosphere of biofuel feedstock cultivation in Hawaii. ASA, CSSA, and SSSA International Annual Meetings, Minneapolis, MN, November 2015. (contributed poster)
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Sumiyoshi, Y.*, Crow, S.E., Taylor,A., Litton, C.M., Deenik, J.L., Turano, B., and Ogoshi, R. 2016. Belowground impact of napier and guinea grasses grown for biofuel feedstock production. Global Change Biology Bioenergy. doi:10.1111/gcbb.12379
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Wells, J.M.*, Crow, S.E., Ogoshi, R., Turano, B., Hashimoto, A. 2015. Optimizing feedstock selection for biofuel production in Hawaii: CuO oxidative lignin products in C4 grasses. Biomass and Bioenergy 83:511-515. doi:10.1016/j.biombioe.2015.10.027.
- Type:
Theses/Dissertations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Meulemans, J. 2016. Systems approach to assessing the environmental and economic sustainability of food and fuel crops with biochar soil amendment. NREM M.S. Plan A, Thesis option, May 2016.
- Type:
Book Chapters
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Wells, J.M.*, Crow, S.E., Meki, M.N., Sierra, C.A., Carlson, K.M., Youkhana, A., Richardson*, D., Deem*, L. 2016. Maximizing soil carbon sequestration: Assessing procedural barriers to carbon management in cultivated tropical perennial grass systems. Book chapter in Carbon Storage and Capture, Ed. Y. Yun, InTech.(Revised, in review.)
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Crow, S.E., Reeves*, M.I., Turn, S., Taniguchi*, S., Schubert, O.S., Koch, N. 2016. Carbon balance implications of land use change from pasture to managed eucalyptus forest in Hawaii. Carbon Management. doi:10.1080/17583004.2016.1213140.
- Type:
Theses/Dissertations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Deem, L. 2016. Mechanistic understanding of improvements in yield and sustainability of biochar-amended soil. NREM M.S. degree. May 2016.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Deem, L.M., Crow, S.E., Deenik, J., Penton, C.R., Yu, J. 2016. Biochar increases temperature sensitivity of soil respiration and N2O flux. Biochar 2016 The Synergy of Science and Industry: Biochars connection to Ecology, Soil, Food, and Energy. Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, August 2016.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Crow, S.E., Meki, M.N., Kiniry, J., Ogoshi, R., Youkhana, A., Pawlowski*, M., Nakahata, M. 2015. Projecting global warming potential of productions systems for tropical perennial C4 grasses cultivated for biofuel feedstock in Hawaii. ASA, CSSA, and SSSA International Annual Meetings, Minneapolis, MN, November 2015. (contributed poster)
- Type:
Other
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Crow, S.E., et al. Soil organic matter stabilization/destabilization in DIRT. ASA, CSSA, and SSSA International Annual Meetings, Minneapolis, MN, November 2015. (invited talk)
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Meulemans, J.*, Crow, S.E., Deem*, L., Yanagida, J., Deenik, J. 2015. Effects of biochar amendment on GHG emission from tropical agricultural soils in two crop managements in Hawaii. ASA, CSSA, and SSSA International Annual Meetings, Minneapolis, MN, November 2015. (contributed poster)
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Youkhana, A., Crow, S.E., Ogoshi, R., Kiniry, J.R., Meki, M.N., Richardson*, D., Nakahata, M. 2015. Allometric models for predicting aboveground biomass, carbon and nitrogen stocks in potential biofuel crops in Hawaii. ASA, CSSA, and SSSA International Annual Meetings, Minneapolis, MN, November 2015. (contributed poster)
|
Progress 10/01/14 to 09/30/15
Outputs
Target Audience:Our target audiences during this reporting period included farmers, researchers, NRCS and extension agents, and private industry/business leaders. We targeted farmers who are making decisions about cropping systems and management strategies in a changing environment. Researchers and earth system modelers are interested in climate change feedbacks of terrestrial ecosystems, specifically managed agroecosystems. Government agencies such as NRCS and the University extension service providers use our results to advise agribusiness and sustainable management practices to land owners, managers, and farmers. Private business/industry partners are making choices of crop and commitment to sustainable or organic certifications that meet the bottom line, and are planning for future carbon and climate change mitigation regulations and carbon market trading. Our efforts to reach our stakeholders included presentation of concepts at an AgPro event sponsored by the University of Hawaii Manoa and Maui County Cooperative Extension, where members of the professional agricultural community received training and certification credits. We held meetings with local industrial partners at Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar and parent company Alexander & Baldwin who are transitioning from intensive sugarcane cultivation into diversified production systems with a commitment to reduced or zero tillage, intercropping and over winter leguminous cover crop rotations, and agroforestry practices on Maui and Pacific Biodiesel who are interested in developing a biochar co-product to disseminate to farmers in their network of feedstock producers. Discussions with NRCS leaders in Hawaii about the benefits of biochar beyond yields have been mutually beneficial. Presentations of results were made a various local and international venues to researchers and crop modelers with similar interests in sustainable production systems. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The PI was a participant and presenter at the 2015 SOAP 2015 SOAP Ag Professional Development Program organized by the Maui Cooperative Extension Office. A teacher training session was provided for the 2015 NRCS Conservation Awareness Program Contest soil judging competition. Selected participation in the 2015 Innovation Showcase: highlighting cutting-edge innovations/technologies from the faculty of UH Manoa's College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources and the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, May 2015. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Thus far, the results were disseminated primarily to an academic audience through conferences and peer-reviewed publications. The Hawaii soil carbon mapping results was presented to stakeholders at a national NRCS sponsored conference. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In the next reporting period, further progress will be made on research objective 3: Development of underlying components to a geospatial predictive model that enables the accurate projection of changes in soil organic matter resources in response to global changes, management. The drivers of soil carbon accumulation during reforestation under eucalyptus will be finalized. A three pool-transfer model will be developed for use in C4 tropical, perennial grass ecosystems cultivated for bioenergy or forage on Oahu and refined for a second location on Maui. Towards extension objective 1) Assess stakeholder perception of soil organic matter and identify constraints and opportunities affecting adoption of soil organic matter management, we intend to further explore options for community-based resource sharing within a food and fuel sustainability framework. Towards extension objective 3)Develop soil testing methodologies to quantitatively assess soil management strategies on soil health, we will finalize experiments to do an initial calibration of the NRCS new Soil Health tests for Hawaii agricultural soils and share our results with the regional and Hawaii-based NRCS team.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Research Objectives: 1) Geospatial soil carbon resource maps interpolated from published carbon stock values were compared to available databases in gSSURGO through the NRCS for the state of Hawaii. 2) Comparison of the two resource maps revealed multiple regions of high disagreement between maps where further refinement and data collection should occur. Specifically, areas under multiple land uses in close proximity or that had undergone recent land use change, with sparse data coverage, and exposed to very sharp gradients between critical geomorphological or climatic conditions controlling the accumulation of carbon were identified as in need of refinement and improvement. 3) Critical work was published (Crow et al 2015) that developed a new approach to assessing the impact of land use change on soil carbon dynamics in Andisols, which are volcanic ash derived soils widespread in Hawaii and have a particularly high capacity to store soil carbon. This approach was then applied to an area along the Hamakua Coast that recently underwent land use change from grazed pasture to managed eucalyptus forest. Results on soil carbon storage during reforestation are still pending publication. Initial analysis suggests that during the growth cycle, carbon accumulates rapidly in mineral-associated pools thereby providing a climate change mitigation service through sequestration in soil. Work is ongoing in agroecosystems to develop models that accurately project soil carbon accumulation over time since change from intensive cultivation practices to conservation agricultural practices. Extension Objectives: 1) Meetings occurred with farmers, NRCS, extension agents, and industry (Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar, Pacific Biodiesel, Mao Farms, among others) to discuss the value of, use, and potential adoption of conservation management practices and organic amendments in their programs or farms. 2) The Hawaii Soil Atlas was launched. 3) Trials are ongoing to calibrate the NRCS's new Soil Health testing system to Hawaii's agricultural soils.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Giardina, C.P., Litton, C.M., Crow, S.E., and Asner, G.P. 2014. Warming-related increases in soil CO2 efflux are explained by increased below-ground carbon flux. Nature Climate Change 4: 822-827.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
VanderWerf, E.A., Young, L.C., Crow, S.E., Opie**, E., Yamazaki*, H., Miller, C.J., Anderson, D.G., Brown, L.S., Smith, D.G., and Eijzenga, J. 2014. Increase in Wedge-tailed Shearwaters and changes in soil nutrients following removal of alien mammalian predators and nitrogen-fixing plants at Kaena Point, Hawaii. Restoration Ecology 22:676-684.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Silva, J.H.S.*, Deenik, J.L., Yost, R.S., Bruland, G.L., and Crow, S.E. 2015. Improving clay measurement in oxidic and volcanic ash soil of Hawaii by increasing dispersant concentration and ultrasonic energy levels. Geoderma 237-238: 211-223.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Crow, S.E., Reeves*, M., Schubert, O., and Sierra, C. 2015. Optimization of method to quantify soil organic matter dynamics and carbon sequestration potential in volcanic ash soils. Biogeochemistry 123: 27-47.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Meki, M.N., Kiniry, J.R., Youkhana, A.H., Crow, S.E., Ogoshi, R.M., Nakahata, M., Tirado-Corbala, R.,Anderson, R.G., Osorio, J., and Jeong, J. 2015. Key crop growth parameters for modeling two-year cycle sugarcane. Journal of Agronomy 107: 1310-1320.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Wells*, J.M., Crow, S.E., Ogoshi, R., Turano, B., and Hashimoto, A. 2015. Optimizing feedstock selection for biofuel production in Hawaii: CuO oxidative lignin products in C4 grasses. Biomass and Bioenergy: in press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biombioe.2015.10.027.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Paudel*, B., Radovich, E.J., Chan, C., Crow, S.E., Halbrendt*, J., Norton, G., Tamang, B.B., and Thapa, K. 2016. Bio-economic optimization of conservation agriculture production systems (CAPS) for smallholder tribal farmers in the hill region of Nepal. Soil and Water: in press.
- Type:
Book Chapters
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Meki, M.N., Kiniry, J.R., Behrman, K.D., Pawlowski*, M.N., and Crow, S.E. 2014. The role of simulation models in monitoring soil organic carbon storage and greenhouse gas mitigation potential in bioenergy cropping systems. Book Article in CO2 Sequestration and Valorization, Ed. V. Esteves, InTech.
- Type:
Book Chapters
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Crow, S.E., Tamang, B.B, Schubert, O., Radovich, T., Paudel*, B., Halbrendt*, J., and K. Thapa. 2015. Soil quality and sustainable production in conservation agriculture production systems (CAPS) of rainfed, sloping land farming of the mid-hills region of Nepal. Chapter 9, pp. 171-206. In Conservation Agriculture in Subsistence Farming: Case Studies from South Asia and Beyond, Eds. C. Chan and J. Fantle-Lepczyk, CAB International.
- Type:
Book Chapters
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Paudel, B., Radovich*,T., Crow, S.E., Thapa, K., Halbrendt, J., Chan-Halbrendt*, C., and Tamang, B.B. 2015. Potential of conservation agriculture production system (CAPS) for improving sustainable food and nutritional security in hilly regions of Nepal. Chapter 3, pp. 55-76. In Conservation Agriculture in Subsistence Farming: Case Studies from South Asia and Beyond, Eds. C. Chan and J. Fantle-Lepczyk, CAB International.
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