For Florida growers, Jose Rolando’s research is focused on promoting healthier soils, reduced input costs and crops able to withstand droughts, heat and shifting weather patterns. For consumers, it aims at more sustainable food production and cleaner water.
As the newest microbiologist at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS), Rolando’s research explores the hidden world of microbes, those microscopic organisms living in the soil that are the most powerful forces shaping farmer’s futures and the health of natural ecosystems.
Rolando focuses his research on how these microbes interact with plants and soils, especially in the face of environmental challenges like sea level rise, warming temperatures, floods and drought. His work spans Florida’s coastlines, seagrass beds, marshlands and even turfgrass fields.
“Microorganisms are nature’s recyclers. They break down organic matter, return nutrients to the soil and even make nitrogen from the air available to plants,” said Rolando, an assistant professor of microbiology at the UF/IFAS Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center. “If we can understand and work with these processes, we can make agriculture more productive while protecting the environment.”
One of his current projects examines what happens when mangroves – plants that are normally found in tropical zones – begin moving north into marshlands due to a shift in warmer temperatures.
In another project, he is investigating how certain microbes can help protect seagrasses from toxic sulfides, a problem that has caused large-scale die offs in Florida Bay and the Indian River Lagoon. In addition, he is exploring ways to use beneficial microbes in grasslands and turf to improve soil health, reduce fertilizer use and help plants thrive under stress.
His work has direct relevance for growers and consumers alike. By harnessing the power of soil microbes, farmers could reduce reliance on costly fertilizer, improve water quality by limiting nutrient runoff and increase crop resilience to climate stress. For the public, these practices mean more sustainable food production and healthier ecosystems and ecosystem services.
“We can’t control the weather or the tides, but we can understand the systems that help plants and soils adapt,” said Rolando. “That knowledge gives us options whether it is helping a coastal wetland survive sea level rise or giving a farmer a sustainable way to boost yield while protecting the environment.”
While most of his current work is in Florida, Rolando also collaborates internationally within his home country, including Peru’s National Institute of Agricultural Innovation on projects studying how different fertilizer treatments affect soil microbiomes in maize production.
As a boy growing up in Lima, Peru, Rolando’s classroom often had no walls. His lessons unfolded under the sun of the Sechura Desert, in the crisp air of the Andes Mountains and in the steamy depths of the Amazon rainforest. Family trips weaved through the country, revealing a tapestry of landscapes and the life that thrived within them.
That curiosity set Rolando on a path from studying biology in his home country to earning a master’s degree in
agroecology at UF and a doctorate in biology from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
“I was lucky to travel all over Peru,” Rolando said. “Seeing how different and beautiful these ecosystems sparked my awe early on. I wanted to understand how nature works down to the smallest parts we can’t even see.”
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By Lourdes Mederos, rodriguezl@ufl.edu
ABOUT UF/IFAS
The mission of the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) is to develop knowledge relevant to agricultural, human and natural resources and to make that knowledge available to sustain and enhance the quality of human life. With more than a dozen research facilities, 67 county Extension offices, and award-winning students and faculty in the UF College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, UF/IFAS brings science-based solutions to the state’s agricultural and natural resources industries, and all Florida residents.
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