About

Laurie E. Drinkwater is a professor in the School of Integrative Plant Science, Horticulture Section at Cornell University. She has a broad interest in using science to develop sustainable societies that provide for all people while preserving natural resources and biosphere integrity for future generations. Her work emphasizes understanding the fundamental nature of managed ecosystems and the mechanisms that govern human-environmental interactions, with a focus on developing food production systems that enhance ecological processes and contribute to sustainability. Her research group conducts studies of soil nutrient cycling processes in agroecosystems at various scales, from the rhizosphere to farm and watershed levels. They investigate mechanisms within the plant-soil-microbial continuum that control ecosystem processes such as energy flows and nutrient cycling, with current projects centered on understanding the biotic and abiotic mechanisms regulating linkages between carbon and nitrogen cycles. This includes exploring processes like symbiotic biological nitrogen fixation, decomposition, mineralization, and microbially-mediated nitrogen transformations such as nitrification and denitrification. Her work aims to develop management practices that improve soil quality while optimizing carbon and nitrogen cycling in intensive horticultural systems. Laurie Drinkwater's research involves interdisciplinary collaboration with colleagues from fields such as molecular microbial ecology, resource economics, environmental sociology, biogeochemical modeling, and weed ecology. She has contributed to advancing ecological nutrient management, sustainable agricultural practices, and understanding the impacts of agricultural management on soil microbial communities and ecosystem functions. Her efforts have been recognized through awards including the Lifetime Achievement Award in Organic Agriculture and a Fulbright Scholarship, among others.

Research topics

• Biology
• Environmental science
• Agronomy
• Ecology
• Agroforestry
• Environmental resource management
• Business

Selected publications

• Evaluating symbiotic N fixation in a hairy vetch breeding program: the importance of phenology and developmental stage

  2025-04-29 · 1 citations

  preprintOpen accessSenior author

  Hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth) is an over-wintering annual legume valued for its ability to provide N through symbiotic N fixation (SNF). Although SNF is a high priority trait for farmers, evaluating SNF in a breeding program is a challenging endeavor. Our objective was to evaluate how SNF varies within and among hairy vetch genotypes, and how SNF covaries with traits directly targeted by breeders (i.e., vigor and flowering time). We evaluated SNF in two hairy vetch breeding nurseries (2017 and 2019) based on the proportion of N derived from SNF (Ndfa) measured using the δ15N natural abundance technique. We also considered plant size (vigor) and flowering stage. In 2017 we sampled plants on the same day, at varying developmental stages. In 2019 we sampled plants at a common developmental stage (early flowering) on different days. The 2017 data could not be confidently interpreted because of confounding effects between developmental stage and genotype. The 2019 data collection controlled for developmental stage effects and showed a positive relationship between vigor and Ndfa that appeared to be driven by flowering time. In other words, genotypes with delayed anthesis produced greater biomass and newly fixed N. All three traits showed discernable variation among genotypes and likely reflect cold late winter/early spring conditions that limited growth and N-fixation of early-flowering plants. Taken together, our study shows that developmental stage and community composition are important considerations for evaluating SNF in annual legume breeding programs.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Genetic and environmental drivers of legume cover crop performance: Hairy vetch

  Crop Science · 2024-09-22 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Among 50 environments in the United States, we screened 35 hairy vetch ( Vicia villosa Roth.) lines for traits of interest to cover cropping. We analyzed the influence of genotype, environment, and the genotype‐by‐environment interaction (G × E) on biomass, vigor, winter survival, emergence, flowering time, and nitrogen fixation. To explore how environments and G × E impacted each trait, we associated environment predictions and G × E loadings with weather and soil parameters. Environment had the largest influence on all traits, representing more than half of the variance. Environment predictions were significantly associated with weather and/or soil parameters for each trait. Biomass was associated with growing degree days, winter survival with freezing degree days without snow cover, growth stage with shortwave radiation, and emergence with soil texture. The G × E interaction was larger than genotypic variance for all traits except for winter survival and flowering time. The G × E interaction loadings were associated with soil sand content for biomass, air temperature for fall vigor and emergence, and snow cover for winter survival. Although it represented the smallest proportion of total variance, genetic effects were significant for all traits except for emergence, Ndfa, %N, and C:N. New hairy vetch breeding lines were superior to all commercially available lines for biomass and winter survival. Biomass harvest timing did not significantly change line rank, indicating that top‐performing lines can be used in diverse management systems. To select for high nitrogen contribution to subsequent crops, breeding programs can indirectly select for biomass rather than expensively evaluating symbiotic nitrogen fixation.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Soil Fertility

  Oxford University Press eBooks · 2024-03-19 · 1 citations

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract This chapter considers how soil fertility management systems have evolved during the most recent era, beginning with the transition to the Green Revolution, industrial agriculture, and continuing to the present day when the sustainability of food production systems is viewed as a grand challenge facing humanity. The evolution of soil fertility research and practice is discussed in terms of implications for the challenges farmers face in managing soil resources sustainably while maintaining crop yields and conserving natural resources and biodiversity. The overarching frameworks guiding synthetic fertilizer management, soil health, and ecological nutrient management are discussed, as well as the barriers farmers face in adopting innovative management systems that would increase sustainability and human well-being.

  PublisherDOI

• Localized application of manure and fertilizers increases productivity of cereals, resource use efficiency and profitability in sub-Saharan Africa

  Agriculture Ecosystems & Environment · 2024-10-28 · 7 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Leguminous green manure promotes N accrual in labile and persistent soil organic matter pools

  Plant and Soil · 2024-06-10 · 4 citations

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Enhancing Soil System Productivity and Controlling Pests with Push-Pull Polycropping in East Africa

  2023-10-27 · 1 citations

  book-chapter

  Polycropping is the concurrent growing of selected multiple crops at the same time and in the same place, with the respective crops being beneficial to each other. Traditional farmers all over the world have long favored biodiversity in their soils and fields for its contribution to long-term agricultural productivity by providing a degree of crop protection that is otherwise only available by purchasing and applying externally acquired, seasonal inputs. Traditional agriculture systems commonly combine the benefits of high productivity, low costs, biodiversity conservation, low energy inputs, and climate change mitigation. Planting a greater variety of crops together provides habitat for more and more varied species, supporting local biodiversity by creating more ecological niches for beneficial organisms such as parasitic wasps or predator insects that attack and reduce pests. Push-pull was designed to exploit natural processes and locally available bioresources to achieve substantial gains in factor productivity and in grain yield, with minimal reliance on external synthetic inputs.

  PublisherDOI

• How to get your paper published in ‘Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment’

  Agriculture Ecosystems & Environment · 2023-10-12 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A comparative study on the impact of five <i>Desmodium</i> species on soil microbiome reveals enrichment of selected bacterial and fungal taxa

  bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · 2023-02-09 · 1 citations

  preprintOpen access

  Abstract Introduction Several Desmodium spp. are used as intercrops in push-pull pest management systems to repel insect herbivores. In addition, Desmodium suppresses the parasitic weed Striga , and diversifies the soil microbiome with negative impacts on fungi. We investigated the impact of a 2-year cropping of five Desmodium species on soil microbiome populations. Methodology Total DNA was obtained from root zone soil samples collected from a two-years-old common garden experiment with replicated plots of five Desmodium spp. at the international centre for insect physiology and ecology (ICIPE), Mbita, Kenya. Subsequently, 16S and ITS DNA sequencing were performed and the data was analysed by using QIIME2 and Calypso. Results Our findings show significant differences in composition and abundance of specific microbial taxa among the Desmodium plots and the bulk soil, with a stronger shift observed for fungal community profiles than bacteria. There was, however, no significant difference in overall diversity, richness and evenness of microbial communities among the Desmodium plots and the bulk soil. Similarly, beta diversity analysis did not reveal a significant association of variation to specific Desmodium spp. plots. Discussion and conclusion This is the first study to compare impact and association of whole soil microbiomes to different Desmodium species. Whereas long-term Desmodium cropping clearly shifts whole microbiome communities, no significant difference in overall diversity and richness of microbial populations was observed among the studied plots. However, there was a divergence of individual taxa reflected on their increased abundance in association to specific Desmodium spp., pointing towards potential impact on ecosystem services. These findings indicate that significant shifts in whole microbial populations due to Desmodium spp. and thus potentially provision of associated ecosystem services require longer cultivation periods to solidify. Future studies should focus on techniques that monitor real-time changes in microbial populations such as RNA-seq to ascertain live and dead microbes, and thus infer ecological services.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Socioecological effects of swidden management in traditional Maya agroforests in the Selva Lacandona of Chiapas, Mexico

  Journal of Environmental Management · 2023-05-18 · 5 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Socioecological Effects of Slash-and-Burn in Traditional Maya Swidden Agroforestry

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2023-01-01

  articleOpen access
  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• BE/CNH: Understanding Linkages Among Human and Biogeochemical Processes in Agricultural Landscapes

  NSF · $1.6M · 2005–2011

Frequent coauthors

• Meagan E. Schipanski

  Colorado State University

  26 shared

• Matthew R. Ryan

  New York State College of Agriculture & Life Sciences

  21 shared

• Timothy E. Crews

  19 shared

• Jennifer Blesh

  University of Michigan–Ann Arbor

  18 shared

• Charles L. Mohler

  Cornell University

  17 shared

• Rachel Bezner Kerr

  Center for Global Development

  17 shared

• Antonio DiTommaso

  Cornell University

  17 shared

• Brian Caldwell

  Cornell University

  17 shared

Awards & honors

• Lifetime Achievement Award in Organic Agriculture (2018)
• Fulbright Scholar (2017)
• Frosty Hill Fellowship (2015)
• College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Alianza de Mujeres…
• Latin American Scientific Society of Agroecology, Annual Con…