U Wyoming Phosphorus researchers | #onthebeamlines photos

Originally on CLS Facebook (photos and text by me):

#Onthebeamlines: Phosphorus is crucial for plants to survive and flourish, so it's a key part of fertilizers. Optimizing phosphorus fertilizers can depend on how the soil is managed, the climate, water, and the crops themselves, and it is important because phosphorous is a non-renewable resource.

University of Wyoming students Than Dam and Zhuojun Zhang are studying how different climates affects phosphorous - whether it is in a form plants can use, or if it could get washed away entirely.

Agriculture contributed $29 billion to Canada's gross domestic product in 2015, so maximizing fertilizer efficiency by understanding how climate and phosphorous are linked has large implications for our country's economy.