Biosolids & Soil Carbon and Nutrient Management Research Under Climate Change

Experience/Expertise

Research scientist/adjunct professor at International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, University of Georgia’s Odum School of Ecology, Illinois Institute of Technology, and Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (Environmental Monitoring and Research).

Researched on Tropical Soil Biology; Nutrient Cycling and Short Fallow; Soil Carbon Sequestration; Microbial Adaptation to Environmental Stress and Carbon Use Efficiency and Soil Health; Cover Crops and Grass Buffer; Denitrifying Bioreactor; Biosolids Processing, Regulations, and Impact of Biosolids Land Application on Environmental Quality (Soil, Water, and Plant); Forest Soil Microbial Ecology.

Dr. Tian was elected a fellow of Soil Science Society of America in 2021.

Dr. Tian was elected a fellow of American Society of Agronomy in 2021.

Selected Publications

Tian G., C.-Y. Chiu, O. Oladeji, T. Johnston, B. Morgan, A. Cox, T. Granato, H. Zhang, and E. Podczerwinski. JumpStart of soil organic matter with highly stabilized organic amendment: Implication for climate-smart agriculture. Environmental Challenges 12: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envc.2023.100726. 2023.

Kim H., D.K. Lee, T.B. Voigt, G. Tian, and A.C. Yannarell. Agricultural practices of perennial energy crops affect nitrogen cycling microbial communities. Applied Soil Ecology 172. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2021.104366. 2022.

Wijesekara, H., K. Colyvas, P. Rippon, A. Hoang, N. Bolan, M. Manna, R. Thangavel, B. Seshadri, M. Vithanage, Y. Awad, A. Surapaneni, C. Saint, G. Tian, S. Torri, and M. Kirkham, Carbon sequestration value of biosolids applied to soil: a global meta-analysis. Journal of Environmental Management 284. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112008. 2021.

Oladeji, O.,  G. Tian, P. Lindo, K. Kumar, A. Cox, L. Hundal, H. Zhang, and E. Podczerwinski, Nitrogen release and plant available nitrogen of composted and un-composted biosolids. Journal Water Environment Research 92: 631-640. 2020.

Brose, D.A., K. Kumar, A. Liao, L.S. Hundal, G. Tian, A. Cox, H. Zhang, E. Podczerwinski. A reduction in Triclosan and Triclocarban in water resource recovery facilities’ influent, effluent, and biosolids following the U.S. FDA's 2013 proposed rulemaking on antibacterial products. Water Environment Research 91: 715-721. 2019.

Chang, E.-H., C.-P. Chen, G. Tian, C.-Y. Chiu, Replacement of natural hardwood forest with planted bamboo and cedar in a humid subtropical mountain affects soil microbial community. Applied Soil Ecology 124: 146–154, 2018.

Pang, X., J. Huang, Q. Zhao, D. Feng, W. Bao and G. Tian, Ecosystem carbon stock across a chronosequence of spruce plantations established on cutovers of a high-elevation region. Journal of Soils and Sediments 17: 2239-2249, 2017.

Tian, G., A.E. Cox, K. Kumar, T.C. Granato, G.A. O'Connor and H.A. Elliott, Assessment of plant availability and environmental risk of biosolids-phosphorus in a US Midwest Corn-Belt Soil. Journal of Environmental Management 172: 171-176, 2016.

Hu, B., B. Yang, X. Pang, W. Bao and G. Tian, Responses of soil phosphorus fractions to gap size in a reforested spruce forest. Geoderma 279: 61-69, 2016.

Pang, X., B. Hu, W. Bao, T. de Oliveira Vargas and G. Tian, Effect of thinning-induced gap size on soil CO₂ efflux in a reforested spruce forest in the eastern Tibetan Plateau. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 220: 1-9. 2016.