Zac Freedman, assistant professor in the Department of Soil Science, is the main PI of a project titled “Enhancing the capacity for carbon and nitrogen isotopic analysis of soil, plant, and animal materials in the North-Central region, USA” that recently received $248,000 in funding through NIFA’s Equipment Grant Program. It was among 21 projects to share $4.8M in funding.

Co-PIs for this project include:

• Randy Jackson, professor, agronomy
• Harry Read, scientist, soil science
• Jean-Michel Ané, professor, agronomy
• Tim Berry, scientist, soil science
• Thea Whitman, associate professor, soil science

Project description (from CRIS website): With support from the USDA, the governance team of the University of Wisconsin–Madison (UW–Madison) Environmental Gas Flux, Biogeochemistry, and Stable Isotope Analytical and Teaching Laboratory, a UW–Madison Research Core, will purchase an isotope-ratio mass spectrometer (IRMS).Users of this instrument will ask research questions relevant to how nutrients move into, around, and out of agroecosystems — from the atmosphere to the soil, to plants, to consumers — and in the environment. Carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) play central roles in the environment, including in agroecosystems, forests, grasslands, and soils. For example, N is a critical plant nutrient, yet excess N can cause problems in lakes, oceans, and drinking water. C, which is fixed from the atmosphere by plants into biomass like leaves and roots, shapes soil properties and comprises the main element in all living matter. Yet, as CO2 gas and methane, it is also the largest driver of climate change. Studies on the environmental dynamics of C and N often focus on their cycling among plants, soil, animals, microorganisms, and the atmosphere, which is difficult to quantify. Stable isotope-enabled techniques allow for these complex relationships and elemental pathways to be unraveled. The purchase of our proposed instrument and the expertise of the project team and potential users will provide and improve the campus, regional, and national capacity for isotopic agroecosystem analyses.