Christine Dazil Sprunger

Michigan State University | MSU

Monitoring soil nitrogen (N) dynamics in agroecosystems is foundational to soil health management and is critical for maximizing crop productivity in contrasting management systems. The newly established soil health indicator, autoclaved‐citrate extractable (ACE) protein, measures an organically bound pool of N. However, the relationship between AC...

The effect of soil degradation on human, animal and plant health Soil degradation is the biological, physical, chemical, and biological decline of soil quality or health. This phenomenon is problematic because it reduces the capacity of soils to support plant and animal life. Additionally, it reduces the ability of soils to regulate essential ecosy...

Weathering the storm: Exploring flooding in agriculture Christine Sprunger, the Assistant Professor of Soil Health at Michigan State University, aims to understand how the flooding in agriculture has increased with climate change and how farmers can better adapt. Climate change is altering precipitation patterns across the globe. In the upper Midwe...

Above and belowground linkages are responsible for some of the most important ecosystem processes in unmanaged terrestrial systems including net primary production, decomposition, and carbon sequestration. Global change biology is currently altering above and belowground interactions, reducing ecosystem services provided by natural systems. Less is...

A holistic approach to assessing soil health In this Q&A, Dr Christine Sprunger, Assistant Professor of Soil Health in the Department of Plant, Soil, and Microbial Sciences assesses the chemical, physical, and biological processes of performing soil health assessments. With her research focusing on the intersection of agriculture and the environmen...

Base cation saturation ratio (BCSR), or soil balancing, is a soil management approach that strives to maintain specific soil calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) levels for a variety of benefits, including improvements in soil health, fewer pest problems, better crops, and increases in crop yield. To achieve ideal levels of Ca to Mg, BCSR practitioners...

Deteriorating soil health: ‘A teaspoon of soil contains more life than there are humans on earth’ Christine Sprunger, an Assistant Professor of Soil Health at Michigan State University explores soil health, arguing “a teaspoon of soil contains more life than there are humans on Earth”. Through a question and answer format Assistant Professor Sprung...

Increased agricultural management intensity is known to degrade soil food web structure and function, however, the impact of 50+ years of contrasting agricultural management practices on soil food webs is largely unknown. The relationship between soil food web structure and sensitive soil health indicators has seldom been quantified in row crop agr...

Soil carbon (C) is a major driver of soil health, yet little is known regarding how sensitive measures of soil C shift temporally within a single growing season in response to short-term weather perturbations. Our study aimed to i) Examine how long-term management impacts soil C cycling and stability across a management intensity and plant biodiver...

Soil health is a promising lens through which to approach land management, having the potential to serve as a descriptor of biophysical processes and as an effective communication tool across stakeholders. However, this potential has been largely unrealized due to difficulty in quantitatively assessing soil health and linking those assessments to o...

Fine root production is closely related to nutrient cycling and can therefore provide implications for improved soil health, particularly within agricultural systems. Currently, it is unknown if fine root quantity or quality (carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) composition) has a larger impact on soil labile C and N pools within corn-based cropping systems...

A critique of the soil health framework is that biological indicators currently lag behind chemical and physical indicators of soil health. Incorporating nematode communities into the soil health framework could help to better reflect key aspects of soil food web structure and function and significantly contribute to ecosystem processes. However, l...

Soil aggregation is a key contributor to soil carbon (C) accrual and stabilization. Yet, little is known regarding how soil food web structure shifts across aggregate size and how this in turn could significantly influence soil C stabilization within aggregates. In order to cohesively understand the link between nematodes and soil C, we conducted a...

Ecological nutrient management is a strategy that can help create resilient cropping systems and reduce the negative impact that agricultural systems have on the environment. Ecological nutrient management enhances plant-soil-microbial interactions and optimizes crop production while providing key ecosystem services. Incorporating perennial legumes...

What role does traditional ecological knowledge play in the lives of smallholder farmers in post-conflict communities as they cope with the destructive impacts of war? In many cases, military weapons, such as unexploded bombs, are left behind in the surrounding landscape, forcing farmers to adapt their livelihood practices to the increased risk of...

Abstract As increasing amounts of cropland are managed using no‐tillage (NT), information is needed to assess long‐term impacts of this practice on soil profile properties. A well‐drained Wooster fine‐loamy (mixed, active, mesic, Oxyaquic Fragiudalf) soil and a poorly drained, Hoytville silty clay loam (fine, illitic, mesic Mollic Epiaqualf) were s...

Fostering and maintaining soil health via holistic management is a central goal for most organic farmers. However, many questions remain regarding how different management practices influence soil health in farm fields. In this study, we used a mail-in soil survey to assess how organic management practices such as crop diversity, perennials in rota...

Base cation saturation ratio (BCSR) or “soil balancing” is a soil management philosophy which strives to maintain targeted base cation saturation percentages in soil. Despite lack of Land Grant University (LGU) endorsement for decades, BCSR is widely practiced by many farmers in the United States, particularly in the organic farming community. Here...

Base cation saturation ratio (BCSR) is a soil management philosophy that postulates having an ideal ratio of base cations for maximizing crop yields. This practice is widely used on organic farms, and BCSR practitioners commonly describe improvements in soil health and crop productivity. However, studies evaluating the efficacy of BCSR on soil biol...

Soil health testing provides an integrated assessment of biological, physical, and chemical attributes to inform the sustainable management of farm fields. However, it is unclear how tests reflect farmers’ own assessments of soil quality and agronomic performance, which may disproportionately influence farm management practices. We asked farmers in...

Soil health has received heightened interest because of its association with long-term agricultural sustainability and ecological benefits, including soil carbon (C) accumulation. We examined the effects of crop diversity and perenniality on soil biological health and assessed impacts on mineralization and C stabilization processes across 10 system...

Declines in soil fertility and limited access to inorganic nitrogen (N) fertilizer constrain crop production in Sub-Saharan Africa. The incorporation of organic residues could increase nutrient mineralization and replenish soil carbon (C), however, the effect that long-term residue management (10+ years) has on maize (Zea mays L.) yields and soil n...

Background and aims Emerging perennial grain crops yield less grain than annual crops, but the economic viability of these perennial systems could be improved if both forage and grain are harvested. However, the belowground consequences of forage removal in perennial grain systems are unknown. This study aimed to determine the effect of the additio...

In the published version, the article title was presented incorrectly. The word “cycling” was inadvertently deleted. The correct title is shown here.

Perennial cropping systems typically exhibit extensive root systems that contribute to important ecosystem services. However, the root systems and the distribution of roots throughout the soil profile in novel perennial grains have yet to be reported. In addition, understanding the full impact of perennial grain cropping systems on belowground proc...

We examined relative changes in soil C pools shortly after the establishment of six perennial and two annual bioenergy cropping systems that differed in diversity (monoculture vs. polyculture). Perennial systems included two monocultures (switchgrass, Panicum virgatum; and miscanthus, Miscanthus × giganteus) and four poly-cultures including hybrid...

Fine roots play a key role in the global carbon (C) cycle because much of the C accumulating in soil is the result of fine root production and turnover. Here we explore the effect of plant community composition and diversity on fine root production in surface soils and plant biomass allocation to fine roots in six perennial cropping systems differi...

Perennial grain crops are expected to sequester soil carbon (C) and improve soil health due to their large and extensive root systems. To examine the rate of initial soil C accumulation in a perennial grain crop, we compared soil under perennial intermediate wheatgrass (IWG) with that under annual winter wheat 4 years after the crops were first pla...

Background/Question/Methods Agriculture has a tremendous ‘ecological footprint’ as it is a leading contributor to carbon dioxide emissions, and other potent greenhouse gases. At the same time, innovative agricultural practices have the potential to mitigate climate change, by sequestering carbon. A transformative approach to a more sustainable ag...