“Root Water Uptake of Biofuel Crops Revealed by Coupled Electrical Resistivity and Soil Water Content Measurements” with Dr. Alexandria Kuhl

Biofuel crops can be used to create fuel from renewable plant materials. Corn is the most common example, but as research progresses, scientists are looking to expand their biofuel crop pool to include woody perennials and ornamental grasses. These plants have a lot of positives going for them, but with longer growing seasons going head-to-head with decreasing water budgets and increasing food needs, much research is still needed to ensure these biofuel rookies can stand the economic and environmental tests of time. This episode, Alex discusses her work creating novel modeling methods to study the impacts and potential of new and promising biofuel crops.

Tune in to learn:

• Which crops are “second-generation” biofuel crops
• How rooting depths can be measured without disturbing the soil
• Which surprising factor most affected the team’s results
• How algae might have a biofuel future

If you would like more information about this topic, this episode’s paper is available here: https://doi.org/10.1002/vzj2.20124

This paper is always freely available.

Contact us at [email protected] or on Twitter @FieldLabEarth if you have comments, questions, or suggestions for show topics, and if you want more content like this don’t forget to subscribe. If you’d like to see old episodes or sign up for our newsletter, you can do so here: https://fieldlabearth.libsyn.com/.

If you would like to reach out to Alex, you can find her here: [email protected] Twitter: https://twitter.com/kuhl_hydgeophy

If you would like to reach out to Bailey Tangen from our Student Spotlight, you can find her here: [email protected] https://twitter.com/baileytangen

Resources

CEU Quiz: https://web.sciencesocieties.org/Learning-Center/Courses/Course-Detail?productid=%7b38C8B74D-736A-ED11-9562-000D3A32318B%7d  

Transcripts: https://www.rev.com/transcript-editor/shared/hGs6U9iUDwlILjSjgT8aCJQpLaORzmFYGWI0nlcztqYM16pL6M7AmxNx186tZCJ5U-W80DtRgrylwxJjDeoiEkWtS3w?loadFrom=SharedLink

Vadose Zone Journal Special Section: Agrogeophysics: Geophysics to Investigate Soil-Plant-Atmosphere Interactions & Support Agricultural Management II: https://acsess.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/15391663/2021/20/4#heading-level-1-2 

Intro paper for the special section, Geophysics Conquering New Territories: The Rise of ‘Agrogeophysics’: https://doi.org/10.1002/vzj2.20115

MSU Hydrology Lab Twitter: https://twitter.com/MSUHydro

United States Department of Energy: https://www.energy.gov/eere/bioenergy/bioenergy-basics

Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center: https://www.glbrc.org/research/sustainable-cropping-systems

Biofuel Jobs with the Department of Energy: https://www.energy.gov/eere/bioenergy/careers-beto

Minnesota Office for Soil Health: https://mosh.umn.edu/

Field, Lab, Earth is Copyrighted by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America.