Welcome to The Soil Ecology & Biological Indicators Laboratory (SEBIL)

Lab members Noah Olson, Anna Brown, Tucker Andrews, Tom Weicht, Deb Neher, Asa Hurd

Our research examines biological communities in compost and their role in disease suppression by natural mechanisms, developing biological indicators for environmental monitoring of agricultural, forest, and wetland soils, ecotoxicology and biotechnology risk assessment, climate change and soil biological crusts. Our work also involves plant pathology and issues surrounding sustainable agriculture.

New Projects

Clivus Multrum Compost Toilet Liquid Fertilizer, Deb Neher is PI on this project funded by . The goal is to characterize nutrients and microbiology to assess potential use on agricultural soils.

Ongoing and Current ProjectsÌý

Designing Compost:

  • Readyhough, T., Neher, D.A., and Andrews, T. 2021. . Microorganisms 9: 1561. doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9081561 (open access)
  • Designing compost for disease suppression on specialty crops. This is funded by Vermont Agricultural Experiment Station Competitive Hatch, Northeastern Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education, Farmers Advocating for Organic, and Vermont Specialty Crop Block Grant programs.
  • Neher, D.A., Limoges, M.A., Weicht, T.R., Sharma, M., Miller, P.D. and Donnelly, C. 2020. . Microorganisms 8(10):1601. doi:10.3390/microorganisms8101601 (open access)
  • Neher, D.A., Cutler, A.J., Weicht, T.R., Sharma, M., and Millner, P.D. 2019. Journal of Applied Microbiology 126:1910-1922. doi.org/10.1111/jam.14268

Ìý

Publications

campus

Contact Us

SEBIL Lab
Jeffords Hall 342
63 Carrigan Drive
University of Vermont
Burlington, VT 05405
(802) 656-0690