Makki Khorchani

Makki Khorchani

Contact Information

TitleTerrestrial Ecosystems and Geospatial Modeler
Faculty RankResearch Assistant Professor
Address506 South Hardin Hall
3310 Holdrege Street
Lincoln NE
68583–0995

East Campus
E-mailmkhorchani2@unl.edu
VitaeDownload file

 

My Story

Born in Tunisia in the southern region of Tataouine (yes! Same as Star Wars’ Tatooine), I got my agricultural engineering degree, then moved to Spain for my master (Integrated planning and natural resources) and PhD (Geography) degrees. I am currently a Research Assistant Professor at the School of Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, passionate about understanding how ecosystems and climate interact. I study the interaction and coupled effects of management and climate variability on the productivity and water use of terrestrial ecosystems with a particular focus on agroecosystems. I use process-based ecohydrological models, machine learning, and statistical models to analyze Eddy Covariance, streamflow, and plant production data with the objective of defining resource efficient and sustainable management practices. My work involves the use of large datasets and programming languages and requires important computing resources.

Feature Stories

Selected Publications

Dangal, S. R. S., Birru, G., Khorchani, M., Shiferaw, A., Schmer, M., Suyker, A., Jin, V., & Awada, T. (2025). Soil organic carbon trends in US Midwest continuous maize and maizesoybean systems over 20 years. Agrosystems, Geosciences & Environment, 8, e70222. https://doi.org/10.1002/agg2.70222
Dangal, S. R. S., Birru, G., Khorchani, M., Shiferaw, A., Schmer, M., Suyker, A., Jin, V., & Awada, T. (2025). Soil organic carbon trends in US Midwest continuous maize and maize–soybean systems over 20 years. Agrosystems, Geosciences & Environment, 8(4). Portico. https://doi.org/10.1002/agg2.70222
Hajek, Olivia L.; Kaplan, Nicole; Azad, Shefali; Fay, Philip A.; Khorchani, Makki; Nelson, Amanda; et al. (2025). Dataset from: Variation in patterns of production and water-use efficiency among agroecosystems across the LTAR Network. Ag Data Commons. Dataset. https://doi.org/10.15482/USDA.ADC/26863258.v1 Online
Obisesan, O. E., Schreiner-McGraw, A., Wood, J. D., Chen, J., Gamble, J., Griffis, T. J., Helseth, C. M., Khorchani, M., Phillips, C. L., Rumora, K., Scott, R. L., Sun, X., Suyker, A. E., Wagle, P., Whippo, C. W., Wilke, B., & Witthaus, L. (2025). Productivity Dynamics of Agroecosystems Under Prevailing and Alternative Management Practices Across the United States. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5937555
Shehab, H., Khorchani, M., Mazis, A., Hiller, J., Erickson, G., Schmer, M., Wardlow, B., Suyker, A., Sun, X., Li, L., McDermott, R., Freidenreich, A., Birru, G., Jin, V., Awada, T., (2026). Bromus inermis forage production and quality under long-term rotational grazing and nutrient enrichment in Eastern Nebraska, U.S. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 400, 110216. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2026.110216
Freidenreich, A., Schmer, M. R., Khorchani, M., Birru, G., Jin, V. L., Awada, T., Drijber, R. A., Suyker, A., Córdova, S. C., Smith, T., Kettler, T., Christofferson, S., Sun, X., & Li, L. (2024). The LTAR Cropland Common Experiment at Platte River/High Plains Aquifer. Journal of Environmental Quality, 53, 939–947. https://doi.org/10.1002/jeq2.20648 Online
Khorchani, M., Awada, T., Schmer, M., Jin, V., Birru, G., Dangal, S. R. S., Suyker, A., & Freidenreich, A. 2024. Long-term croplands water productivity in response to management and climate in the Western US Corn Belt. Agricultural Water Management, 291, 108640. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2023.108640. Online
Liebig, M. A., Abendroth, L. J., Robertson, G. P., Augustine, D., Boughton, E. H., Bagley, G., Busch, D. L., Clark, P., Coffin, A. W., Dalzell, B. J., Dell, C. J., Fortuna, A. M., Freidenreich, A., Heilman, P., Helseth, C., Huggins, D. R., Johnson, J. M. F., Khorchani, M., King, K., Kovar, J. L., Locke, M. A., Mirsky, S. B., Schantz, M. C., Schmer, M. R., Silveira, M. L., Smith, D. R., Soder, K. J., Spiegal, S., Stinner, J., Toledo, D., Williams, M., Yost, J. 2024. The LTAR Common Experiment: Facilitating improved agricultural sustainability through coordinated cross-site research. Journal of Environmental Quality, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1002/jeq2.20636 Online
M. Khorchani, M. Schmer, A. Freidenreich, T. Awada, G. Birru, S. Christofferson, R. Drijber, G. Erickson, V. Jin, R. McDermott, A. Suyker, A. Watson, B. Woodbury, Y. Xiong, J. Hiller, X. Sun, and L. Li. The ltar grazing land common experiment at platte river high plains aquifer. Journal of Environmental Quality, 53(6):948–956, 2024 Online
Shiferaw, A., Birru, G., Tadesse, T., Schmer, M. R., Awada, T., Jin, V. L., Wardlow, B., Iqbal, J., Freidenreich, A., Kharel, T., Khorchani, M., Mersha, Z., Begna, S., Sohoulande, C. 2024. Optimizing cover crop management in Eastern Nebraska: Insights from crop simulation modeling. Agronomy, 14(7), 1561. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy14071561 Online
Khorchani, M., Gaspar, L., Nadal-Romero, E., Arnáez, J., Lasanta, T., Navas, A. 2023. Effects of cropland abandonment and afforestation on soil redistribution in a small Mediterranean mountain catchment. International Soil and Water Conservation Research, 11, 339-352. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iswcr.2022.10.001 Online
Nadal-Romero, E., Khorchani, M., Gaspar, L., Arnáez, J., Cammeraat, E., Navas, A., Lasanta, T. 2023. How do land use and land cover changes after farmland abandonment affect soil properties and soil nutrients in Mediterranean mountain agroecosystems? Catena, 226, 107062. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2023.107062 Online

Background

Education

DegreeMajorInstitutionYear Awarded
Doctorate of Philosophy Geography (Land use and evironmental planning) University of Zaragoza, Spain 2022
Master of Science Integrated planning for rural development and management of natural resources Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Zaragoza, Spain 2016
Bachelor of Science Agriculture and Management of Natural Resources University of Cartage, Tunisia 2014

Areas of Interest/Expertise

  • Eco-Hydrological modeling
  • Global change
  • Greenhouse gas emissions
  • Eddy covariance flux measurements
  • Carbon sequestration
  • Reconstruction of climate data using AI
  • Remote Sensing
  • Soil erosion

Grants

Currently this page only displays grants that were awarded on 1/1/ 2009 to the present. If a grant was awarded prior to 1/1/ 2009 and is still active, it will not be displayed on this page.

Grant TitleAmerican Geophysical Union Fall Meeting 2025
Starting Date10/09/2025

Investigator(s)

Ending Date10/09/2025
Funding Level$1,000.00
Funding AgencyAgricultural Research Division Travel Funds