In this project, we are investigating how different agroecosystem management practices alter soil carbon storage and how soil microbes respond to these changes. Our first experimental site is a long-term afforestation trial at Orton Bradley Park, where pasture was planted in pine and eucalyptus 26 years ago. By comparing these forested trial plots to the nearby pasture control, we aim to understand how much carbon is stored down the soil profile to 60 cm, how stable that carbon is, and whether tree species influence carbon retention.

Our second experiment focuses on a long-term grassland trial at Lincoln University that has been managed for decades under different mowing and biomass regimes. Here we will explore whether maintaining or removing plant material after mowing affects soil carbon, nutrient dynamics, and microbial and viral communities.

Finally, we are running a third experiment that involves transplanting microbiomes from the grassland trial treatments into an agriculturally depleted soil within a glasshouse setting. This will allow us to determine if we can increase carbon retention through bioremediation in a controlled environment