Rodney Venterea

My research program addresses the biogeochemistry of elements that impact both agricultural productivity and environmental quality. Much of our work focuses on the reactive nitrogen (N) compounds - including nitrous oxide, nitric oxide, nitrate, nitrite and ammonia - each of which can have ecological impacts at local, regional and/or global scales when their concentrations become elevated above naturally occurring levels. We work mainly in agricultural, but also in forest and other ecosystems. Our goal is to better quantify, understand and predict the biochemical production and transformation of reactive N species within the soil and their physical transport to the broader environment using lab, field, and modeling techniques. We are also interested in the biogeochemistry of carbon and phosphorus. Our parallel objective is to evaluate management systems and treatment technologies that could minimize environmental impacts while maintaining agricultural production capacity.