Annual Review - University of Toronto Scarborough

for a healthy Planet
Partners for
Tomorrow, Today
PRoFeSSoR MyRNA SIMPSoN,
DePARTMeNT oF PHySICAL AND
eNVIRoNMeNTAL SCIeNCe
“Professor Simpson has a deep
understanding of molecular
biochemistry and applies that
knowledge to an ecosystem scale.
She has a very unique set of skills,
which provides us with crucial
insight into how climate change
will affect carbon cycle dynamics.”
Dr. ed Gregorich, Fellow of the Canadian
Society of Soil Science and research scientist
at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
AT UTSC we STRIve to connect the
dots between academic excellence
and real-world engagement. By
nurturing research partnerships with
outside organizations whenever
we can, we continually expand our
sphere of influence and ensure that
the breakthroughs happening on
our campus have maximum impact
on the wider world.
when scientists at Agriculture and
Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) – the federal
ministry responsible for agricultural
sustainability across the country –
became concerned about the amount
of carbon being released from our soils
due to global warming, they enlisted
one of UTSC’s leading researchers
to help them figure out how to make
more of that carbon stay put.
Professor Myrna Simpson is worldrenowned
for her soil research
techniques. She is the co-founder of
the environmental Nuclear Magnetic
Resonance (NMR) Centre at UTSC,
the only facility in Canada dedicated
to the development and application
of NMR techniques specifically for
research in environmental science.
Simpson is collaborating with the
AAFC on a groundbreaking 10-year
carbon sequestration study.
The goal of the study is to answer
one of the most pressing questions
facing environmental scientists today:
How do climate conditions such as
temperature or moisture content affect
whether or not carbon residues in the
soil remain intact for the next growing
season, or become degraded and
eventually lost to the atmosphere?
This question is a critical one because
the more carbon is lost, the more our
soils become infertile and susceptible
to erosion, and the more havoc is
wreaked on food production worldwide.
“The only way to answer this question
is with NMR,” says Simpson. “That’s
why they called me.”
NMR is the most powerful technology
available for characterizing the
composition of matter. Researchers at
AAFC send soil samples from 11 field
sites to Simpson, and she performs
high-resolution molecular analyses
on them that no one else in Canada
is capable of doing. This biochemical
data will help government scientists
determine how best to supplement
the carbon in the soil in a variety of
environmental conditions, so that it
stays in the ground. Then they will
be one step closer to helping farmers
protect, and even boost, the
productivity of their soil.
“with the results of this study,” says
Simpson, “we’ll have a better idea
of how – and in what form– we might
be able to add carbon residues to
our soils to help combat the effects
of climate change. we are producing
results that could directly influence
agricultural practices in Canada and
around the world.”
14 UNIVeRSITy oF ToRoNTo SCARBoRoUgH