November 2024 issue

Volume 69, Issue 11

DIRT (Detritus Input and Removal Treatments) is a decades-long, multisite experiment investigating the soil organic matter that governs physical, chemical, and biological functions of soil in forest ecosystems. Soil scientist Rich Bowden established DIRT plots at Allegheny College's Bousson Experimental Forest in 1991. In a recent article in Soil Science Society of America Journal, he and his team track 30 years of the experiment's impacts. Though long-term research like DIRT doesn't immediately provide a payout, sustaining it now is essential for answering questions about gradual ecosystem changes. See story on page 4. Cover photo shows Rich Bowden on the right and Katherine Brozell (then a student at Allegheny College) on the left sampling soils at DIRT plots.