Congratulations Sharon!

Sharon Feit defended her Masters thesis today, en route to graduating with her M.S. degree this fall. Her thesis is titled “Variability in Hydrology and Ecosystem Properties and their Role in Regulating Soil Organic Matter Stability in Wetlands of West-Central Florida.” Sharon joined the lab in the summer of 2010. Her research examined the roles that wetland vegetation community and hydrology play in regulating the size of soil carbon and nitrogen pools, and the partitioning of these pools into labile (bioavailable) and stable fractions. Perhaps of greatest importance, her work suggests that under the oxidizing conditions of suppressed wetland hydroperiods, wetland soils appear to lose even their stable C and N fractions. Given the extremely large size of wetland C and N pools, these results have important implications for mineral C and N release to air and water, and for groundwater management. Great job Sharon!!!