Nadelhoffer Lab: Matt Pierle

Zach, an Alumnus of the University of Michigan's Program in the Environment, joined our lab in the Fall of 2009 after spending the summer at UMBS as the T.A. for Env 311, "Rivers Lakes and Wetlands." In addition to assisting Jim LeMoine with managing the lab and overseeing undergraduate researchers, he spends much of his time working on the FASET-FIT and UMBS DIRT projects. His duties include design, construction, deployment and recovery of hyphal ingrowth cores and root decomposition bags. He quantifies net nitrogen mineralization from ion exchange resins, stewards soil samples through preparation for isotopic and chemical analysis, analyzes carbon and nitrogen content of various ecosystem pools, and measures soil carbon and nitrogen mineralization potentials from the DIRT plots.