Webinar: Nitrogen Losses from Hydric Soil Landscapes

Iowa Learning Farms will host a webinar that aims to improve the understanding and management of nitrogen losses from hydric soil landscapes.

The leaching of nitrate and emissions of nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas, are key environmental impacts of Corn Belt agricultural systems. Steven Hall, Iowa State University assistant professor of ecology, evolution and organismal biology, is leading a research group that studies the biological and geochemical processes that control the cycling of organic matter and nutrients across the plant-soil-water-atmosphere continuum. One focus area is the interactions across that continuum in former prairie potholes. These occasionally flooded hydric soils in topographic depressions can contribute disproportionately to nitrogen losses at the landscape scale, suggesting the promise of management interventions that specifically target these features.