Wiesner is an assistant professor of environmental science at UW–River Falls. Her research interests include agricultural atmospheric science and climate resiliency, land-atmosphere interactions, remote sensing, and ecosystem management. Wiesner’s position is funded by the Dairy Innovation Hub.
Dairy agriculture systems are often large sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to Earth’s atmosphere with many opportunities to economically and sustainably reduce these emissions that are usually unrealized. However, agricultural emissions from land management have steadily increased as nutrient application has increased and soil health has declined. It is thus critical to assess how land management practices, crop physiology (photosynthetic activity), and soil characteristics including terrain interact to quantify tradeoffs among soil health, climate resilience and sustained agricultural yields. The largest sources of atmospheric greenhouse gases from agricultural soils are a function of nutrient management, changes in moisture dynamics, particularly with respect to nitrous oxide and methane (N2O and CH4), soil structure and composition, as well as interactions between plant metabolites (i.e., root exudates as a function of photosynthetic activity) and soil microbes. For example, upland soils, especially in forested areas usually serve as relatively small CH4 sinks, depending on the land management and climate, including precipitation extremes that could alter soil water dynamics. Here we propose to improve the monitoring of soil GHG emissions and carbon uptake at the Mann Valley Farm of the University of Wisconsin – River Falls, to detangle the complex interactions between land use management, vegetation type and physiology, and soil characteristics. The goal of this project is to make better recommendations for crop type considerations with respect to soil type, terrain, and legacy.