SEBIL- Soil Ecology and Biological Indicators Laboratory
Welcome to the Neher Lab
Affiliations
University of Vermont, Plant & Soil Science, Professor
Gund Institute For the Environment Affiliate
Soil Ecology Society
Society of Nematologists
Ecological Society of America
CONTACT
(802) 656-0474
Jeffords Hall Room 342, 63 Carrigan Dr. Burlington VT 05405
Research and Outreach Interests
Soil Ecology
Biological indicators of soil
Plant-soil interactions
Epidemiology of root pathogens
What we do
Our lab is named the Soil Ecology and Biological Indicators Laboratory or, SEBIL. 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.
I am a soil ecologist with formal training in plant population ecology and plant pathology. I view nature as a model and am a question-driven researcher using population and community ecology approaches.
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Our lab is located in Jeffords Hall, a LEED Gold certified building completed in 2010 and equipped to face research challenges today and in the future.
Vermont is home to over 7,000 farms, an ideal location to create partnerships for our research.
“The soil is the great connector of our lives, the source and destination of all.”
Wendell Berry, The Unsettling of America, 1977