Welcome to the webpage of the Jackson lab at the University of California at Davis. We are housed in the Department of Land, Air, and Water Resources and study soil and root ecology in agricultural and grassland ecosystems. Our goals are to:

• Understand ecological processes that control nutrient cycling, microbial community composition, and plant growth and diversity along management and disturbance gradients.
• Develop environmentally-sound management practices for increased sustainability, soil quality, and biodiversity in agricultural and grassland ecosystems in California.

Our work examines ecological processes in:

• Ecophysiology, e.g., plant nitrogen and water uptake, and root architecture
• Community ecology, e.g., soil microbial community composition and activity, with a focus on plant, rhizosphere, and mycorrhizal effects
• Ecosystem ecology, e.g., soil-plant nitrogen and carbon flows as mediated by microbial and plant processes
• Landscape-level ecology, e.g., comparison between soils and vegetation along land use gradients.

We focus on vegetable crop systems and on the comparison of soil processes between intensively-farmed vegetable crop systems and neighboring grassland ecosystems. Our projects span basic and applied research topics, and address issues related to water, nitrogen, and organic matter management. Currently, much of our work is on organically farmed systems, or on farms that are making the transition to organic production.

Outreach and extension of research results to farmers and landowners is an important part of our programs. We emphasize on-farm research as a valid way to study ecological processes, as well as produce relevant information for farmers to use in their decision-making. Various formats exist for our outreach activities including publications, presentations, and fact sheets.

• Land Use History, Biodiversity and Environmental Quality
A land use transect from intensive agriculture to upland grazed grasslands in the Central Coast region of California points out large changes in soil microbial communities and soil nutrient dynamics on the same soil parent material in relation to land use. This comparison of different land use types on the same soil parent material, has allowed us to relate soil resource availability to microbial community composition and vegetation management. A farmscape study in Yolo County is showing how smaller-scale features such as hedgerows and riparian corridors affect farm-level productivity, nutrient cycling, and economic profitability, which will allow analysis of tradeoffs for land use decision making. These projects are focusing on how different land use types affect plant carbon inputs, soil microbial composition, activity, and depth distribution, and ultimately soil carbon sequestration.

• Climate Change in Agriculture
Agricultural responses to climate change in California has been the subject of two projects in our lab: 1) A literature review that addressed the challenges ahead for California crops and landscapes, and 2) A case study of the potential for agricultural adaptation to climate change in Yolo County.

• Tomatoes, Roots and Mycorrhizae
The role of arbuscular mycorrhizae for plant nutrient uptake, soil nutrient retention and soil biology is being studied in tomato, using a mutant with reduced colonization. Organic farming systems are the focus of this work. The genetics of root architecture and deep water use by lettuce has also been studied, and showed that wild lettuce is a potential source of germplasm for breeding lettuce with lower water input requirements.

• Nitrogen and Carbon Cycling in Organic Vegetable Production
Nitrogen transformations, soil microbial community composition, and other soil aspects of soil ecology are altered by organic production. Nitrification, ammonia-oxidizing bacteria, and rhizosphere effects are being studied to better understand cycling and retention of nitrogen in organic tomato production systems, in comparison with conventional production. In addition, an on-farm project monitored the successful transition to organic production on two vegetable farms in the Salinas Valley, California, and demonstrated sufficient plant N uptake with little loss of inorganic N.

• Tillage and Organic Matter Management
Tillage and organic matter management have short- and long-term effects on soil microbial processes and soil quality parameters, as well as on yield, soilborne disease, weeds, and economics. Minimum tillage and no-tillage have been studied in California vegetable systems for their effects on soil food webs and soil carbon sequestration.