The Bird Soil Biogeochemistry lab group is focused on belowground C and N cycling in terrestrial and estuarine ecosystems.  Soils are critical controllers on the flow of matter and energy in the environment and are considered especially important in the Earth's response to climate change.  Soils act as both a source of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere and as a sizable sink for plant C and N inputs.

We investigate how soil fauna and microbial communities, plants, climate and mineralogy interact to control the turnover, loss or stabilization of soil C and N in boreal, temperate and tropical ecosystems.

Much of our work uses stable isotopic tracers (13C and 15N) to follow carbon and nitrogen among plants, soil microbes, and mineral surfaces to better understand how soils support ecological productivity, the production of food and fiber and environmental quality. 

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