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Brendan O'Neill

Research Scientist
Conservation Ecology
Conservation + Restoration
obrendan@umich.edu

About

Brendan O’Neill, PhD, conducts research on soil systems and terrestrial microbial ecology. Soils are vital ecosystems, not only for their role in food production, but also for their importance to global carbon and water cycles other biogeochemical processes. Soil microbes carry out many of the processes that make soil so critical to sustainability, including regulation of greenhouse gases. O’Neill’s work includes basic research into the formation and function of soil microbial communities, the linkages between terrestrial ecosystem management and water resources, and the role of soil ecology in promoting sustainable development.

Publications

  • 2010 Biqing L., Lehmann J., Sohi S., Thies, J.E., O’Neill, B., Trujillo, L., Gaunt, J., Solomon, D., Grossman, J., Neves, E. G., Luizão, F.J. Black Carbon Affects the Cycling Of Non-Black Carbon in Soil.  Organic Geochemistry, 41 (2010) 206-213.
  • 2009 O’Neill, B., Grossman, J., Tsai, S.M., Gomes, J.E., Lehmann, J., Peterson, J., Neves, E., Thies, J.E. microbial Community Composition in Brazilian Anthrosols and Adjacent Soils Using Culturing and Molecular Identification.  Microbial Ecology, 58: 23-35.
  • 2009 Tsai, S.M., O’Neill, B., Cannavan, F.S., Saito, D., Falcão, N.P.S., Kern, D. Grossman, J., Thies, J.  The Microbial World of Terra Preta.  In Amazonian Dark Earth: Wim Sombroek’s Vision, edited by Woods, W.I., Teixeira, W.G., Lehmann, J., Steiner, C., WinklerPrins, A., Rebellato, L.  Springer, Berlin.

Education

Michigan State University, Department of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences – Ph.D. (Spring 2017)
Cornell University M.S. Crop and Soil Science (Spring 2007). Specialization in soil microbiology
Indiana University B.S. Biology (Spring 2000) / B.A. Spanish (Spring 2001)