PGS

PGS Validation 2011-2013

1 March 2011 - 28 February 2013

Lead Scientist: Marc Fischer

Observatory: SGP (Southern Great Plains)

We continued a paired treatment – control experiment at the Agricultural Research Service’s Southern Plains Range Research Station (SPRRS). The ongoing experiment compared energy and carbon fluxes and from a field recently planted to switchgrass (a potential biofuel crop), with fluxes from winter wheat. The ongoing experiment was conducted in a collaboration that includes SPRRS staff and researchers from the University of Oklahoma. Additional hypotheses, specific to the experiment are that biofuel production will 1) result in greater growing season carbon uptake than conventional crops and, 2) can increase carbon soil stocks due to increased root growth and reduced tillage.