Soil Ecology Research Group
Joann K. Whalen, Ph.D., agr.
McGill University

Proposed thesis title
Effect of organic amendments and weather events on nitrous oxide emissions from agricultural soil during non-growing season in cold humid regions.

Proposed thesis title
Quantifying the persistence of macro aggregates at the soil surface.

Proposed thesis title
The fate of cyanotoxins in soil.

Research Focus
Studies arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, a symbiont of plant roots. He is examining the response of the mycorrhizal-plant association to fertilizer sources (biosolids, inorganic fertilizers). The goal of this work is to identify the soil fertility conditions that promote the mycorrhizal symbiosis and increase corn production under drought stress.

Proposed thesis title
The effect of treated wastewater on the biomass of biocrust in Kuwait's desert.

Research Focus
Krisztina is researching the relationship between soil health and human mental and physical health across different cropping systems. She is interested in the reciprocal nature between soil and human health in small-scale diversified cropping systems versus large-scale monocultures. The foundations of Krisztina's work is focused around permaculture.".

Proposed thesis title
Nitrous oxide emissions from a Panicum virgatum L. (Switchgrass) production system applied with variable rate nitrogen fertilizer in Québec, Canada.

Proposed thesis title
Contributions of the root microbiome to soybean abiotic stress tolerance in soil receiving organic amendments.

Proposed thesis title
Soil carbon and greenhouse gas fluxes dynamics in corn-soybean agroecosystems in Eastern Canada.

Research Interests
• Greenhouse gas emissions from biosolid-amended soils under corn production
• Biochar as a soil amendment and co-amendment in composting

Research Interests
Soil fertility, oil microbiological ecology, Agroecology and Environmental Science.