The students in the Brinkworth lab are enacting novel in-lab approaches to reducing the carbon footprint of biological research programs. Part of these efforts includes the development of a "Carbon Garden" on campus that will capture carbon through plant growth and development of carbon sequestering mycorhizial fungal networks in the soil, as well as provide a location for discrete fermented compost brick burial. We plan to place two large no-till, pollinator garden plots(27' x 8' and 36' x 8') on the Southeast side of Davenport Hall in the disused space between the building and the adjacent parking lot.

These plots, ringed in decomposed gravel and manually watered from a rain barrel, would hold fast growing, showy native flowering plants and grasses that would, in addition to the benefits described above, beautify a sterile campus area frequented by students. In addition, the garden will be featured in an upcoming student-led peer-reviewed invited article for the journal Human Biology addressing how students and Principal Investigators in human biology labs can take next steps in reducing the carbon footprint of their research programs and demonstrate the ease with which such steps can be achieved on typical university campus. It will be maintained by undergraduate students in the Brinkworth lab and Anthropology Department.