This USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Project Grant award to the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) provides $846,562 in funding to assess how soil microbial diversity, composition, and functions vary across rangelands in the Southwestern U.S., quantify the combined impacts of land-use and climate change, and identify management solutions for soil restoration and conservation. The award will enable UTEP to use novel microbiome analyses, arid-focused soil health assessments, and greenhouse experiments to expand understanding of microbial controls on carbon pools in dryland ecosystems under global change pressures. The project aims to leverage plant-microbe interactions and soil microbial consortia in land management strategies to improve soil carbon sequestration and productivity under drought conditions. The grant period runs from September 1, 2024 through August 31, 2027.
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