Ecological Research

Aerodyne scientists combine their extensive field and laboratory experience with access to a wide range of measurement platforms to provide accurate, precise, and chemically comprehensive insights into ecosystem function and behavior.

Aerodyne ecological field and lab services include subsurface gas mapping and flux measurements, laboratory mesocosm studies, dissolved gas measurements, and measurement method development.

Capabilities

Farmland, rangeland, sensitive ecosystems

Measurements of subsurface trace gas production and aboveground fluxes at agricultural and sensitive ecosystems.

Plant / root

Soil probes buried beneath growing plants can directly measure root-zone gases that are indicative of root-microbiome interactions and can reflect plant health and stress. These are traditionally difficult to characterize due to their large concentration gradients.

Subsurface Soil and Water

Real-time, in situ, continuous monitoring of trace gases and isotopic signatures in subsurface soil and aquatic ecosystems.

Soil Fluxes to the Atmosphere

Above surface fluxes of emissions and deposition monitored via towers or chambers.

Laboratory Mesocosms

Soil columns with probes installed at well-defined depths are used to measure environmental responses under controlled conditions in a variety of soil types. Variables such as soil moisture, temperature, and oxygen levels can be manipulated.

Advantages

High Precision

Spatial Resolution

cm to m scale

Temporal Resolution

Minutes to hours scale

Automated, scheduled, and long term sampling

Aerodyne Field Campaigns

GHG emissions from cattle grazing

The climate impact of cattle grazing is highly dependent upon grazing technique. Subsurface N₂O and CO₂ production measured with buried probes were linked to above ground surface fluxes from eddy covariance tower. Isotopic signatures traced N₂O production pathways before and during grazing events, and correlated with spatial and temporal heterogeneity.

Biosphere 2 Rainforest, WALD Campaign

Aerodyne scientists studied soil biogeochemical responses to drought and subsequent rewetting conditions in the rainforest. Subsurface soil probes measured N₂O isotopologues and CO₂ in the rhizosphere of rainforest vegetation and at different depths to investigate mechanisms that drive plant-soil-microbe relationships.

Northern U.S. wetland methane emissions

The methane emissions and ¹³CH₄ and CH₃D isotopic signatures were measured with flux chambers at a fen in New Hampshire. Long term measurements of methane emissions and pore water isotopic signatures inform the understanding of methane production and consumption pathways at the fen, and the impact of climate change on these processes.

Rhizosphere responses to sorghum growth

Soil oxygen dynamics and the interaction of nitrogen cycle process and soil respiration were examined using fine spatial resolution in the rhizosphere of sorghum. Microvolume probes were combined with a sampling system and conversion oven to measure O₂ concentrations and isotopic signatures in the rhizosphere.

Subsurface nitrogen cycling

Subsurface probes were installed under three sorghum genotypes with different biomasses at the Maricopa Agricultural Center (Arizona) to observe differences in subsurface nitrogen cycling over a complete growth cycle.