Research at the Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Illinois at Chicago has found that native prairie plants and prairie soils hold more carbon than crop land and plants.
"Beyond growing crops like corn and soybeans, prairie soil is better than soils found in other parts of the United States at retaining carbon dioxide" said Roser Matamala, a terrestrial ecologist in Argonne’s Biosciences Division who was the lead researcher of the two projects that measured the intake and release of carbon dioxide of the different soils and plants. Her research also found that native prairie grasses absorb much carbon dioxide than crop plants.
Read "Argonne, UIC researchers get the dirt on prairie soil" at anl.org for more information.
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