D-DIRT Turns 10!

February 2023 marks the tenth anniversary of the Dryland-Detrital Input and Removal Treatments (D-DIRT) experiment at the SRER. The DIRT network (https://dirtnet.wordpress.com/ ) explores how changing inputs of plant litter affects the storage and stability of carbon in soils. This network has ~10 long-term sites in mesic forests throughout the world. Arizona State University professor Heather Throop established SRER as the first Dryland-DIRT site to explore how soil organic matter processes are affected by litter inputs and drylands. Throop and collaborators maintain plots annually, but soil organic matter formation and stabilization is a long-term process and they anticipate tracking changes over decades. They collected their first comprehensive soil sampling in February 2023 and are looking forward to sharing results at a future RISE Symposium!

For more information about the D-DIRT experiment at the SRER, visit also Examples of Current Research Projects and Additional Research Datasets.