Mr. Vallotton is a soil scientist with cross-training in environmental science and agriculture, currently a doctoral student (2019 to present) at Memorial University of Newfoundland under Prof. Adrian Unc. His doctoral research focuses on soil respiration dynamics in boreal ecosystems and how soil respiration can be used to understand soil carbon dynamics, particularly how land transformations affect soil respiration, soil carbon, and soil health.

His first doctoral project integrated soil health with quantification of small-scale variability on a farm in Labrador (Pye Centre). His second, with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, examined soil health across the five Atlantic provinces. His third examined the impacts of field management, particularly rock pulverization, on soil health. His fourth, funded by the Kimberley Foundation, gathered soils from ten global locations within the boreal or boreal-temperate ecotone (UK, Ireland, Finland, Switzerland, Mongolia, Japan, New Zealand, Alaska, Saskatchewan, and Quebec).

Research interests

• Soil respiration dynamics across ecoregions and climatic zones, with a focus on boreal regions
• The efficacy of different methods of measuring soil respiration
• How soil management practices, especially tillage, affect soil carbon and soil health
• Composting and its effective use in agricultural settings
• Bridging the gap between farmer practice and laboratory science

Education

• BA, Environmental Science/Sustainable Agriculture and Liberal Arts, Eastern Mennonite University, USA
• MSc in Plant, Soil, and Environmental Science, University of Maine, USA
• PhD (in progress), Soil Science, Environmental Science, and Agriculture, Memorial University of Newfoundland