UI Facility Will Allow Scientists To Do Cutting Edge Deep Soil Research

Earlier this year, the University of Idaho was awarded $18.9 million to establish a one-of-a-kind deep soil research facility. Thanks to the grant from the National Science Foundation, the U of I’s Deep Soil Ecotron will enable scientist to conduct experiments on columns of soil up to ten feet deep. University of Idaho’s Dr. Mike Strickland says this facility will also allow them to explore “one of the last research frontiers”. He noted that soil health is vital in a variety of ways.

“Without a healthy soil you just can’t grow crops, you can’t sustain and ultimately one of the problems with that it’s what holds the nutrients, the water and all the things that you need to grow crops, but also be able to do that into the future.  Under say changing climate, changing conditions and what have you.”

When complete, the Deep Soil Ecotron will contain as many as 24 “eco-units” used to study soil cores, which will include above ground plants and below ground organisms such as insects and microbes. Dr. Zachary Kayler added this facility will give researchers an understanding of soil and the relationship between soils and plants not seen before.

“First and foremost, we can simply observe.  But the ability to actually control where we introduce soil moisture, how, whether it's through precipitation or through groundwater up welling, if we want to control the soil chemistry of the water very precisely, we can start to answer fundamental questions about the physics the microbiology and chemistry of soil systems.”

Only 13 facilities of this type exist in the world with most located in Europe. And according to the University of Idaho, none go to the soil depths planned for the Moscow facility, which will give scientists greater ability to monitor and manipulate the eco-units for controlled experiments.

Click Here to learn more about Ecotron.

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