Post-Docs

Justin Beslity

jadamsb2 — Fri, 01 Nov 2024 22:46:36 +0000

Justin Beslity jadamsb2 Fri, 11/01/2024 - 15:46

Dr. Justin Beslity is an eco-hydrologist, who primarily conducts his research on small, forested watersheds. As a post-doctoral researcher in the Biosphere 2 rainforest, he will seek to understand how important tropical trees, such as Theobroma cacao, will respond to changing climate patterns. These projects will help fill the critical research gap of poorly understood water use strategies under different demands and supplies in tropical forests around the world. To optimize our results, we will combine a number of data collection techniques currently used in B2, as well as new sensors developed by Justin to measure water fluxes at a more cost-effective rate. Undergraduate students working with Justin will develop valuable skills such as computer programming, circuitry building, and scientific communication.

Justin Beslity

Rainforest Post-Doc

justinbeslity@arizona.edu

Clement Lopez

jadamsb2 — Thu, 11 Jul 2024 13:46:32 +0000

Clement Lopez jadamsb2 Thu, 07/11/2024 - 06:46

Mineral carbonation is based on the reaction of CO2 with metal oxide-bearing materials to precipitate insoluble carbonates, with calcium being one of the most attractive metals. While the development of industrial carbonation processes has been recommended to mitigate climate change, its natural occurrence in soils and its potential enhancement through management practices has received little attention so far. Since natural carbonation is commonly considered to be a slow process, spreading powder of non-carbonated, calcium-bearing minerals over soils, a strategy known as enhanced rock weathering (ERW), is a promising way to accelerate it. While humid tropical areas are generally regarded as having the greatest potential for ERW, recent evidence suggests that carbonation may also be significant in drylands, driven by water vapour adsorption (WVA) by soil at night, potentially representing an overlooked long-term carbon sink. The OASIS project's general objective is to assess ERW's potential in dryland soils. Its main underlying assumption is that optimizing WVA with the amendment of highly adsorbent ground rock will maximize the carbonation process while reducing the dependence of phototrophic organisms on rainfall or irrigation. To tackle this objective, OASIS will implement field and mesocosm manipulative experiments using cutting-edge infrastructure to control environmental conditions and simulate climate change. These will be coupled to state-of-the-art measurements and isotopic tracing of soil-atmosphere water vapor and CO2 fluxes. This research will fill several gaps in our understanding of natural carbonation and its interactions with WVA, organisms, and climate change. It is also expected to provide solid arguments for implementing conservation measures and sustainable agricultural practices in drylands or seasonally dry lands to protect and increase water and carbon resources, which is in line with several European and global guidelines.

Clement Lopez

Postdoctoral Resercher

lopezcle@arizona.edu

Dr. Minseok Kim

katherinemorgan — Mon, 04 Oct 2021 18:02:06 +0000

Dr. Minseok Kim katherinemorgan Mon, 10/04/2021 - 11:02

Minseok studies catchment hydrology focusing on utilizing data-based hydrologic signatures, such as water travel time distributions and flow recession dynamics, and hillslope scale processes. His major works include: laboratory experiments at Biosphere 2 to observe the hydrologic signatures and underlying hydrological processes, development of hillslope scale models and theories of hydrologic transport, numerical modeling, method development to maximize information gain from data, and data analysis. He is also interested in visualization for effective communication of science.

Dr. Minseok Kim

LEO Post-Doc

minseokkim@arizona.edu