I am currently a Postdoctoral Researcher with the Earth, Environmental and Resource Sciences Department at University of Texas at El Paso. My research focuses on land-atmosphere carbon exchange and the importance of soil inorganic carbon in native and agricultural dryland ecosystems in Idaho, New Mexico, and Texas. This work uses eddy covariance measures of carbon and water fluxes to examine ecosystem response to episodic or irrigated water additions, as well as geochemical and isotopic techniques to determine calcium and carbon provenance, estimation of carbon sequestration rates, and the potential of soil carbonates to act as a nature-based climate solution.

Previously, I completed a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship with CSIRO’s Agriculture and Food unit in Adelaide, Australia. My work examines soil carbon stabilization mechanisms, integrating them into ecosystem carbon models. This work involves the use of molecular and stable and radiometric isotopic techniques to track the fate of carbon through dryland ecosystems. Prior to this, I worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher with the US Department of Agriculture — Agricultural Research Service in Boise, Idaho, USA. This research focused on the measurement and modeling of soil carbon fluxes in response to changes in climate. The purpose of my research was to estimate soil carbon losses, as part of a broader Critical Zone Observatory effort to develop a working carbon model for the Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed.

I received my Doctor of Philosophy in Biology at Idaho State University in 2017, examining effects of climate and plant community changes on ecosystem water, carbon, and nutrient cycling as part of the Reynolds Creek Critical Zone Observatory. I received my Master of Science in Soil Physics from the Soil and Crop Sciences Department at Colorado State University in 2011, working with engineers to ameliorate salinization of agricultural soils. My Bachelor of Science in Biology at Colorado State University focused on plant population and microbial community ecology.

Although my research is predominately in desert ecosystems and focused on soil hydrological and biogeochemical processes, I have research experience in many different systems and sub-disciplines. My research in Colorado included wetland and alpine plant population ecology. I also examined change in soil physical and hydraulic properties with freeze/thaw cycles and forest fires. In Alaska, I studied the effects of changing climate on plant community composition and losses of dissolved or gaseous carbon at the Arctic Long-Term Ecological Research site. In Hawaii, I investigated successional changes caused by invasive nitrogen-fixing tree species along a 4.1 million year chronosequence. In a similar study, I examined controls on succession in semi-arid volcanic soils (Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve), contrasting them with previous studies in humid climates.

Contact Information

David P. Huber, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Researcher
University of Texas at El Paso
251 E. Front St.
Suite #400
Boise, ID 83702
Email: dphuber@utep.edu
See Huber CV here.