Bio

Dr. Richard Conant is a Scientist at the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory at Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado. His research interests include basic soil carbon dynamics and the impacts of land use/management change on soil carbon, primarily in grasslands and agroecosystems. Among his projects at NREL, Richard was involved in compiling land areas, land use, and carbon sequestration potentials for the recently published SBSTA report completed by the IPCC. Prior to joining NREL in 1998, he was a post-doctoral Research Associate in the Department of Microbiology and a Lecturer in the Department of Plant Biology at Arizona State University, from which he received his Ph.D. in 1997. Dr. Conant is a member of the Soil Science Society of America, the American Geophysical Union, and is the Rocky Mountain Chapter Secretary for the Ecological Society of America.

Research projects

• Vulnerability of soil organic matter to temperature changes
  We are investigating how the physical, chemical, and biochemical mechanisms that protect soil carbon from decomposition act to reduce the temperature sensitivity of soil carbon.
  
• Does grazing impact light-use-efficiency in pastures?
  Light-use-efficiency (LUE) – the efficiency with which absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (APAR) is converted into plant biomass – is a key variable necessary for assessing aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) using remotely sensed data.
  
• Remote sensing of grazing intensity: Case studies in the short- and midgrass steppes
  Grasslands are important biomes all over the world both in spatial extent (40% of land mass) and in ecosystem function. Understanding grassland production dynamics necessitates detailed knowledge of how these areas are managed currently and in the past.
  
• Remote sensing and ecological modeling for assessing C sequestration in semiarid grassland soils
  A key component for sustaining production in grassland ecosystems is the maintenance of soil organic matter (SOM), which can be strongly influenced by management.
  
• Quantifying C Sequestration Potential Through Improved Pasture Management
  The amount of C stored in soil in terrestrial ecosystems depends on the balance between C inputs (through plant residues) and the decomposition of soil C.
  

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Publications

• Acid hydrolysis of easily dispersed and micro-aggregate derived silt- and clay-sized fractions to isolate resistant soil organic matter
  The current paradigm in soil organic matter (SOM) dynamics is that the prop...
• Soil management effects on organic C in isolated fractions of a Gray Luvisol
  Agricultural management affects soil organic matter, which is important for...
• Impact of soil texture on the distribution of soil organic matter in physical and chemical fractions
  Previous research on the protection of soil organic C from decomposition su...
• Does grazing impact light-use-efficiency in pastures?
  
• Grazing impacts on light-use-efficiency and APAR in southeastern pastureland: implications for remote sensing of ANPP
  

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Presentations

• Interactions between protection mechanisms and their impact on acid hydrolysis of silt- and clay-sized fractions
• Characterizing Key Resource Areas in Kenya by Remote sensing
• 13C stabilization in functional C pools after 2.5 years:Implications for soil C saturation theory
• Characterizing Key Resource Areas in Kenya by Remote sensing
• Does acid hydrolysis isolate a meaningful resistant fraction?

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