Soil Hydrology & Physics Lab

Active Areas of Research

Nutrient, Carbon, and Salt dynamics
Hydrology & Water Quality
Agricultural Management Practices
Land Use & Climate Change Adaptation
Biogeochemical Model Application and Development
Food-Energy-Water Nexus

Water Resources & Water Quality

Water resources play a pivotal role in agriculture, ensuring the sustained growth of crops and livestock essential for human consumption. However, non-point source (NPS) pollution from agricultural landscapes is identified as one of the major sources of pollution in aquatic ecosystems. By implementing sustainable agricultural practices, optimizing water use efficiency, and ensuring the protection and preservation of water quality are imperative for food security, ecological balance, and the overall well-being of communities.

Carbon Sequestration & Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Controlling GHG emissions from agricultural landscapes is essential for mitigating climate change, ensuring sustainable food production, protecting ecosystems, and fulfilling global environmental and economic commitments. How the change in agricultural land use and management practices under the changing climate affects the carbon sequestration potential and GHG emissions from cropping systems is essential information for sustainable agricultural production.

Agricultural Management Practices

Best management practices (BMPs) are often implemented to mitigate environmental impacts from agricultural production. Despite the widespread application of BMPs, questions remain about the efficiency of BMPs. The selection of BMPs should take into account both their economic viability and environmental impact. Understanding of the complex interactions between BMPs, crops, water and nutrients, and climate variability in agricultural ecosystems is critical for sustainable agricultural production under changing conditions.

Climate Change & Land Use Change Impacts

Climate and land use change are two important factors that can affect water availability and quality in large agricultural regions. Climate change is characterized by altered precipitation patterns, escalating temperatures, and increased frequency of extreme weather events, affecting both surface and ground water cycles. The change in land use is mainly driven by the increasing population and its corresponding food demand. An improved understanding of the ecological impacts of climate change and land use change in agricultural regions is needed to support food and water security, ecosystem conservation, and socioeconomic well-being.

Biogeochemical Model Development

Biogeochemical models serve as essential tools to understand the intricate dynamics within the plant-soil-water system. Beyond fieldwork, my research significantly leans on the application of physically-based models like the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) and the Cold Region Hydrological Model (CRHM). While these models are highly valuable, they do have their limitations. My research seeks to improve the process representation such as nitrogen and carbon cycling in terrestrial and aquatic environments by process-based models such as SWAT.