Quintaniay Holifield

Title: Soil Scientist
Unit: People and Their Environments: Social Science Supporting Natural Resource Management and Policy
Address: NRS
Baltimore Field Station, 5523 Research Park Drive Suite 350
Baltimore, MD 21228
Phone: 443-543-5384
E-mail: Contact Quintaniay Holifield

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Education

• Ph. D. 2003. State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, NY
• M.S. 1992. Alabama A&M University, Normal, AL
• B.S. 1989. Alabama A&M University, Normal, AL

Civic & Professional Affiliations

American Pathology Society, Alpha Zeta Agricultural Fraternity, Ecological Society of America-Mid Atlantic Chapter, Soil Science Society of America

Current Research

• Investigating the primary belowground microbiological, soil chemical, and soil physical processes, their governing factors, and the integral control of forest health, productivity, carbon sequestration, carbon dioxide efflux, and sustainability in urban ecosystems.

Future Research

Currently conducting and planning new research to

1. develop indicators that predict the interactive effects of increasing greenhouse gases and suburban homeowners' lawn management practices on the soil microbial biomass found within urban forest patches;
2. to quantify the urban carbon cycle in sites established in the northeastern and mid-Atlantic United States.

Major objectives of this research will include:

1. comparing soil chemical, physical, and microbial properties on established research sites by relating forest health issues, nitrogen deposition, and the cycling of carbon;
2. to develop indicators of  urban forest health;
3. to develop an urban soil quality index relating how the physical, chemical, and biological properties of soil are affected by urbanization and human activity and how these changes may affect tree health;
4. to investigate the influence of land use and environmental factors on landscape characteristic and dynamics in urban ecosystems at Cub Hill, Maryland.

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