Soils in regions that undergo seasonal freeze-thaw (FT) cycles will have complex characteristics compared to soils that never freeze. Depending on the intensity and duration of FT-cycles, soil physico-chemical properties are altered. This impacts annual biogeochemical cycles and the soil, water, and air of the local environment. Understanding and quantifying changes in winter soil nutrient status will help guide summer and fall season nutrient management. This project is dedicated to understanding and quantifying soil nutrient changes as a result of FT-cycles, by conducting rigorous field and lab experiments.
Field experiments (2017-2020) are under way at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Arlington Agricultural Research Station. Lab studies are also in progress at the Soil & Water and Sustainable Soil Management Labs at UW-Madison. For more details and interesting facts about this project, please contact: Laxmi Prasad (lprasad@wisc.edu), Anita Thompson (amthompson2@wisc.edu), and Francisco Arriaga (farriaga@wisc.edu).