Can biochar fight climate change and help prairies?

In less than 200 words, what main research questions are you working on? Please make sure to first include a brief context and background to your research, articulate your question(s) and conclude with why you think it’s important to study the them (i.e., the potential broader impacts).

Climate change, from the burning of fossil fuels, is increasing the carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the atmosphere. Removing that CO₂ from the atmosphere and storing it for the long term can be achieved by adding biochar to soils. Storing that carbon in plants like trees can fight climate change, but the carbon in that plant material goes back to the atmosphere when the plant dies and decomposes. Biochar, plant material that is heated to very high temperatures and turned into a charcoal like substance, resists breakdown when added to the soil. This keeps the carbon that is in that biochar in the soil and stops it from returning to the atmosphere (unlike un-charred plant material). However the impacts of adding biochar to soil on the plant community remain unclear. I, along with my students, are trying to figure out the impact of biochar on prairie plant growth and nutrient cycling. Does biochar help prairie plants? Does it hurt prairie plants? Does biochar additions to soil encourage invasive species growth?.  Visit My Lab Website