Graduate student Chong Seok Choi conducting research in Bogor, Indonesia on the opportunities to incorporate micro-scale renewable (solar) energy into existing cropping systems. The project goal is develop colocated crop-solar PV systems to maximize the efficiency of agricultural land along with providing several co-benefits (rural electrification, employment generation, energy for processing agricultural commodities locally)

Ravi, S. Solar-Agriculture colocation: Synergies and Tradeoffs, The 6th IPB talks on Complexity and Sustainability Sciences: Renewable Energy and Agriculture , Bogor, Indonesia, August 2017. (INVITED Speaker and panelist).

Graduate student Chong Seok Choi and undergraduate researcher Alex Cagle at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s solar energy test site near Golden, Colorado. They are conducting field experiments to investigate the environmental impacts (on soil properties and hydrological processes) of large solar energy infrastructures. (funded by DoE)

In summer 2017, Sujith Ravi was an invited visiting professor at the Intitute of Desert Control Science & Engineering, IMAU, Huhhot, Inner Mongolia.

“Ravi et al. revisit the idea that plants self-organize to find water by studying the interactions of water, soil, and vegetation in Namibian fairy circles “- Witman, S. (2017),

Witman, S. (2017), Mysterious “fairy circles” continue to enchant scientists, Eos, 98, https://doi.org/10.1029/2017EO071017. Published on 05 April 2017.

Commentary by the JGR Editor Dr. Dork Sahagian, The magic of fairy circles: Built or created? http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2017JG003855/full

https://eos.org/research-spotlights/mysterious-fairy-circles-continue-to-enchant-scientists

Ravi, S., L. Wang, K. Kaseke, and I. Buynevich, Ecohydrological interactions within “fairy circles” in the Namib Desert: Revisiting the self-organization hypothesis, Journal of Geophysical Research, 122, doi:10.1002/2016JG003604.  [American Geophysical Union & Wiley, IF: 3.32]

• In News:  USA TODAY, PHYS.ORG,  Science Daily, EOS.ORG (AGU), IndyStar, Science News Online, Daily Mail, WorldNews (WN), ScienceTimes, Temple University News,  University Herald
• Featured in the cover, Research spotlight in EOS, and Commentary by AGU Editor Dr. Dork Sahagian

van Pelt et al. 2017 in Geoderma (Elsevier) examine the particulate matter emissions (air quality impacts) from desert surfaces subjected to different disturbances including fire, grazing, trampling, and tillage.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016706116304311

van Pelt, S., Baddock, M., T. M. Zobeck, S, Ravi, D’Odorico, and A. Bhattachan (2017), Total vertical sediment flux and PM₁₀ emissions from disturbed Chihuahuan Desert surfaces, Geoderma, http://dx.doi.org/10.​1016/​j.​geoderma.​2017.​01.​031. [Elsevier, IF: 3.31]

Yu et al. in Ecohydrology (2017)  uses a novel process-based modelling framework to investigate the complex dynamics resulting from the introduction of exotic grasses under variable climate. Results indicate that  the system converges towards different steady states, depending on the magnitude of climatic variability.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/eco.1742/full

Yu, K., G. S. Okin, S. Ravi, and P. D’Odorico (2016), Potential of grass invasion in desert shrublands to create novel ecosystem states under variable climate, Ecohydrology, DOI: 1002/eco.1742 [Wiley].

American Geophysical Union Fall meeting, San Francisco, CA, December 2016.

1. Ravi, S., L. Wang, K.  Kaseke, and I. Buynevich, Ecohydrologic interactions within “fairy circles” in the Namib Desert.
2. Trifunovic, B., H. Gonzales, and S. Ravi, Impact of biochar amendment on soil hydrological properties.
3. Wang, L., S. Daryanto, K. Kaseke,  and S. Ravi, Integrating teaching and authentic research in the field and laboratory settings.
4. Wang, G., J. Li,  S. Ravi, J. Sankey, D. Dukes, H. Gonzales, and S. van Pelt, Post-fire soil nutrient redistribution in northern Chihuahuan Desert.
5. Dukes, D., S. Ravi, D. Grandstaff, H. Gonzales, J. Li, J. Sankey, G. Wang, and S. Van Pelt, Quantifying post-fire aeolian sediment transport using rare earth element tracers.
6. Li, J., and S. Ravi, Soil texture in a coppice dune system: The relative role of aeolian and hydrologic processes.
7. Gonzales, H., S. Ravi, J, Li and J. Sankey, Aeolian sediment trapping efficiencies of sparse vegetation and its ecohydrological consequences in drylands.
8. S. Ravi, Convener & Session Chair: American Geophysical Union 2016 fall meeting, Hydrology session: Advances in Ecohydrology of Water-Stressed Environments I & II

David Dukes (Graduate Student) and Howell Gonzales (Postdoctoral Fellow) with one of their automated field monitoring stations at Sevilleta Wildlife Refuge, NM

• NSF-funded project (2015-2019)
• Impact of wildfires on ecosystems functions
• The applicability of novel techniques – using rare earth element tracers for soil erosion, and LiDAR (Ground-based & Unmanned Aerial Systems) for soil microtopography and vegetation structure – to monitor landscape responses to fires.