DAAD climapAfrica Postdoc Fellow
Botswana International University of Science & Technology, Botswana
Dr. Chukwuebuka is currently a researcher in the Department of Land Resources Management and Environmental Protection, Mekelle University Ethiopia. He holds a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Degree in Soil Science from Mekelle University Ethiopia and a Masters Degree in Soil Science from the University of Nigeria Nsukka. Dr. Okolo is a Green Talents awardee (2017), Climate, Food and Farming, Global Research Alliance Development Scholarships (CLIFF-GRADS) Fellow within the Global Research Alliance (GRA) Network (2019), member of the American Geophysical Union (2019), and a recipient of the African-German Network of Excellence in Science (AGNES) Junior Research Grant (2021).
Publications – (most recent)
Okolo, C.C., Bore, E., Gebresamuel, G., Zenebe, A., Mitiku, H., Nwite, J. N., Dippold, M. A. (2022). Priming effect in semi-arid soils of northern Ethiopia under different land use types. Biogeochemistry. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-022-00905-z
Gebresamuel, G., Molla, B., Teka, K., Negash, E., Haile, M., and Okolo, C.C. (2022). Changes in soil organic carbon stock and nutrient status after conversion of pasture land to cultivated land in semi-arid areas of northern Ethiopia. Archives of Agronomy and Soil Science. https://doi.org/10.1080/03650340.2020.1823372
Okolo, C.C., Gebresamuel, G., Zenebe, A., Haile, M., and Eze, P. N. (2020). Accumulation of organic carbon in various soil aggregate sizes under different land use systems in a semi-arid environment. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 297: 106924. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2020.106924
Professional career interests
- Carbon storage, distribution, and transfer across different agroecosystems.
- Carbon and nitrogen stoichiometry
- Measurements of CO2 exchange (chambers) and GHG fluxes
- Priming effects
- Carbon-Nitrogen (C-N) budgets
- Microbial carbon use efficiency (CUE) using 18O labeled water
- Use of radioactive isotopes for incubation pulse labeling studies, especially 14C application to trace the respiration and microbial incorporation of easily available C sources
- Sustainable land use management
- Sustainable agriculture
- Soil conservation
I participate at climapAfrica because
It serves as the desired springboard for interacting and collaborating with climate and environmental scientists as well as fine-tuning and sharpening my scientific research skills. This will thus enable me to think outside the box in solving agricultural and land-use management-related problems in the face of changing climate.