ELCOME to the Darrouzet-Nardi Lab homepage! I am an associate professor at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) in the Biological Sciences department, and part of the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology program (EEB).

Last updated Oct 16, 2024

GRADUATE RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES: I am interested in accepting one or two graduate students in Fall 2025 (or potentially even sooner). We have several exciting projects that are underway at the master's and Ph.D. levels. See here for my prospective student page. In particular, I'd like to feature an opening for a Ph.D. student to work on our newly funded (award page) CrustNet project.

Ph.D. student: CrustNet
The Darrouzet-Nardi Laboratory at the University of Texas at El Paso is recruiting a Ph.D. student in UTEP's Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Ph.D. Program to work on the soon-to-launch CrustNet project. CrustNet is an international distributed experimental network focused on biocrust ecology, examining biocrust biodiversity, function, and resilience in the face of global change. The role for this Ph.D. student will be to run CrustNet sampling nodes in the Chihuahuan Desert and to analyze biocrust samples from sites around the world. It is the perfect project for a desert or biocrust lover and represents a tremendous opportunity to network with the global community of biocrust researchers and to develop high-impact publications based on network data. The connections begin with the esteemed scientists on the project including lead PI Dr. Matthew Bowker, Dr. Sasha Reed, Dr. Anita Antoninka, and Dr. Javier Ceja-Navarro. From there, the chances to connect and establish a career extend to regular participation in the Biocrust conference series, held in various international locations, and beyond to the dozens of research laboratories around the world that have expressed interest in the network. Some of our lab's specific areas of focus will be to examine soil characteristics, elemental composition, soil enzymatic function, and contribution of biocrusts to ecosystem productivity in both observational and experimental components of the project. The analytical work will be done at the University of Texas at El Paso where this position is based. There will be cool experiments like a sledgehammer smash and recovery of biocrusts done in exactly the same way in 100+ global locations. There will be a chance to travel to sites around the Western U.S. and globally. The ideal candidate will have experience working with biological soil crusts, but experience in areas such as dryland ecosystem ecology or soil biogeochemistry are also good background. If you are interested, send an inquiry email to ajdarrouzetnardi@utep.edu. Posted: July 27, 2024.

Biocrusts!

ABOUT THE LAB: I am an ecologist and biogeochemist at heart. I'm an ecologist because I enjoy studying all of the complex connections in the living world and I'm a biogeochemist because measuring elemental pools and fluxes is my favorite way to do this. My laboratory's research is focused on investigating plant and soil processes, and a consistent theme is filling in the belowground component of our understanding to complement the often better knowledge of aboveground processes. We use approaches such as isotopic analyses, plant ecophysiological measurements, and a wide array of chemical assays as part of laboratory and field experiments. Many projects also include a global change component such as the effects of invasive species, air pollution, or climate change. Field projects have focused on mountain, desert, and Arctic tundra ecosystems, though since coming to El Paso drylands have been my focus!

Collecting critical zone cores in the pecan orchard

CURRENT WORK: Since I began at UTEP in 2015, we have had two major areas of interest. First, we conducted a National Science Foundation funded project examining the fungal loop in desert ecosystems. We have mainly concluded work on this project and recently the lab has been focused on a second major effort, our collaborative "Dryland Critical Zone" project. In this project, we have been investigating carbon, water, and nutrient cycling in drylands. We have been comparing these cycles in irrigated and unirrigated systems and aiming to create synthetic understanding of organic and inorganic C cycling in particular. Read more about lab projects here. This project has a couple more years, but a third generation of lab projects are also in the works.

MORE INFO: Please check out my Twitter feed, Google Scholar Page, and CV to learn more about my research interests.

Solar eclipse crescents on my shirt!