Patrick Drohan

Professor of Pedology

Patrick Drohan

Research Summary

Soil formation and biogeochemistry due to land use and ecosystem change; soil and water degradation, and the remediation of soil physical and chemical properties in urban environments.

Huck Graduate Students

Huck Affiliations

    Ecology
  • Ecology
    • Ecology Institute

Links

Most Recent Publications

Monitoring belowground processes and responses of bioavailable soil nutrients in arid ecosystems

Brenda Vaness, Patrick Drohan, S Collins, Merilynn Hirsch, Douglas Merkler, Joseph Fargione, Brenda Buck, Chelsea Crenshaw, Etsuko Nonaka, James Elliott, others,

Moses A. Ajemigbitse, AquaBlok Ltd, Swanton, Ohio Daniel J. Bain, Geology and Environmental Science, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Margaret C. Brittingham, Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, Penn State University

Tetiana Cantlay, Rosemary Capo, Elizabeth Dakin, Shay Dougall, Patrick Drohan, David Eaton, John Graham, W Griffin, Robert Howarth,

Developing Ecological Sites and Associated State-\&-Transition Models to Anticipate Dynamic Ecosystem Responses to Disturbance in Complex Landscapes of North Central Pennsylvania

W Alex, Paul Roth, Michael Marsicano, Patrick Drohan,

Development and Validation of a Phosphorus Critical Source Area Index for Ridge and Valley Physiographic Province Agricultural Runoff Management

Emily Lesher, Patrick Drohan, Jhony Benavides, J Weld, Ian Thomas, Peter Kleinman,

16802 USA 4 The Pennsylvania State University, Department of Plant Science, University Park, PA 16802 USA v.* Corresponding author Roger T. Koide

S Peoples, Paul Adler, Patrick Drohan,

What Can We Learn from Mn-Coated IRIS?

Martin Rabenhorst, Patrick Drohan, John Galbraith, Lesley Spokas, Mark Stolt, James Thompson, Bruce Vasilas, Karen Vaughan, Gary Jellick,

An initial geopedological survey and description of historic raised beds in north-western Ireland

A. Bonhage, T. Raab, P. Drohan, A. Schneider, A. Raab, 2025, Geomorphology

Stable soil moisture promotes shoot performance and shapes the root-rhizosphere microbiome

Dichuan Liu, Zhuan Wang, Guolong Zhu, Aiguo Xu, Renlian Zhang, Ray Bryant, Patrick J. Drohan, Huaiyu Long, Viola Willemsen, 2025, Agricultural Water Management

Impacts of Deficit Irrigation on Strawberry Physiology, Water Productivity, Quality, and Yield

Pingguo Yang, Patrick J. Drohan, Xiaojiao Zhang, Huaiyu Long, Konstantinos X. Soulis, Xiaorong Shi, 2025, Sustainability

Elevated incidence of infant botulism in a 17-county area of the Mid-Atlantic region in the United States, 2000–2019, including association with soil types

Haydee A. Dabritz, Ingrid K. Friberg, Jessica R. Payne, Camille Moreno-Gorrin, Kristy Lunquest, Deepam Thomas, Alexandra P. Newman, Elizabeth A. Negrón, Patrick J. Drohan, 2024, Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Most-Cited Papers

Weathering of rock to regolith: The activity of deep roots in bedrock fractures

Elizabeth A. Hasenmueller, Xin Gu, Julie N. Weitzman, Thomas S. Adams, Gary E. Stinchcomb, David M. Eissenstat, Patrick J. Drohan, Susan L. Brantley, Jason P. Kaye, 2017, Geoderma on p. 11-31

Watershed-Scale Impacts from Surface Water Disposal of Oil and Gas Wastewater in Western Pennsylvania

William D. Burgos, Luis Castillo-Meza, Travis L. Tasker, Thomas J. Geeza, Patrick J. Drohan, Xiaofeng Liu, Joshua D. Landis, Jens Blotevogel, Molly McLaughlin, Thomas Borch, Nathaniel R. Warner, 2017, Environmental Science & Technology on p. 8851-8860

Biochar amendment of soil improves resilience to climate change

Roger T. Koide, Binh T. Nguyen, R. Howard Skinner, Curtis J. Dell, Matthew S. Peoples, Paul R. Adler, Patrick J. Drohan, 2015, GCB Bioenergy on p. 1084-1091

Using Kaya and LMDI models to analyze carbon emissions from the energy consumption in China

Pingguo Yang, Xiao Liang, Patrick Drohan, 2020, Environmental Science and Pollution Research on p. 26495-26501

Linear infrastructure drives habitat conversion and forest fragmentation associated with Marcellus shale gas development in a forested landscape

Lillie A. Langlois, Patrick J. Drohan, Margaret C. Brittingham, 2017, Journal of Environmental Management on p. 167-176

Spatial variability of heavy metal ecological risk in urban soils from Linfen, China

Pingguo Yang, Patrick J. Drohan, Miao Yang, Hongjun Li, 2020, Catena

A global perspective on phosphorus management decision support in agriculture: Lessons learned and future directions

Patrick Drohan, Marianne Bechmann, Anthony Buda, Faruk Djodjic, Donnacha Doody, Jonathon M. Duncan, Antti Iho, Phil Jordan, Peter Kleinman, Richard McDowell, Per Mellander, others, Ian Thomas, Paul Withers, 2019, Journal of Environmental Quality on p. 1218--1233

Cadmium phytoextraction by Helianthus annuus (sunflower), Brassica napus cv Wichita (rapeseed), and Chyrsopogon zizanioides (vetiver)

Jhony Benavides, Bolaños Benavides, Patrick Drohan, J. T. Spargo, S. N. Maximova, M. J. Guiltinan, Douglas Miller, 2021, Chemosphere on p. 129086

Simulating ungulate herbivory across forest landscapes: A browsing extension for LANDIS-II

Nathan R. De Jager, Patrick J. Drohan, Brian M. Miranda, Brian R. Sturtevant, Susan L. Stout, Alejandro A. Royo, Eric J. Gustafson, Mark C. Romanski, 2017, Ecological Modelling on p. 11-29

Comparison of emitters of ceramic tube and polyvinyl formal under negative pressure irrigation on soil water use efficiency and nutrient uptake of crown daisy

Pingguo Yang, Yun Bian, Huai Long, Patrick Drohan, 2020, Agricultural Water Management

News Articles Featuring Patrick Drohan

Jan 24, 2025

‘It’s Important To Learn About The World Around Us’: Penn State Soil Judging Team Qualifies For Nationals

Full Article

Oct 29, 2024

Microplastics increasing in freshwater, directly related to plastic production

Microplastics have been steadily increasing in freshwater environments for decades and are directly tied to rising global plastic production since the 1950s, according to a new study by an interdisciplinary team of Penn State researchers.

Full Article

Oct 22, 2024

Deer, seedlings and soil pH influence local forest regeneration

New findings from long-term research underscore the challenges managers face when trying to conserve Penn’s Woods.

Full Article

Jul 20, 2023

USDA grant funds study of effectiveness of vegetation to curb water pollution

At a time when Pennsylvania is actively working to achieve water-quality improvements to meet the state’s obligations for cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay, a multidisciplinary Penn State research team is studying whether agricultural pollution-prevention devices called riparian buffers are working properly.

Full Article

Oct 02, 2020

Harvesting vegetation on riparian buffers barely reduces water-quality benefits

Allowing farmers to harvest vegetation from their riparian buffers will not significantly impede the ability of those streamside tracts to protect water quality by capturing nutrients and sediment — and it will boost farmers’ willingness to establish buffers.

Full Article

May 07, 2019

Institutes of Energy and the Environment announces seed grant recipients

Several Huck researchers are among the recipients of 2018-19 IEE seed grants.

Full Article