Congratulations to Kate Lajtha, who was named an 2020 AGU Fellow in recognition of “exceptional contributions in our Earth and space sciences community through breakthrough, discovery, or innovation in their disciplines.” Since 1962, the American Geophysical Union (AGU) has elected fewer than 0.1% of members to join this prestigious group of individuals. https://eos.org/agu-news/2020-class-of-agu-fellows-announced
Kate’s work focuses on nutrient cycling in soils and vegetation, soil organic matter dynamics, and forest biogeochemistry. At the Andrews Forest, Kate has been the PI for the DIRT (Detrital Input and Removal Treatment) study to examine the effects of changing detrital quality and quantity on soil organic matter stabilization, C balance, and nutrient cycling and availability. The DIRT plots at the Andrews Forest were established in 1997 and have led to important discoveries about soil carbon and soil organic matter. The Andrews Forest DIRT study is connected to other DIRT sites in the US and in Europe for work on cross-site comparisons.