Makki Khorchani

Makki Khorchani

  • Contact Information
  • My Story
  • Publications
  • Background
  • Interests

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

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.v1Online
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/jeq2.20648Online
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/jeq2.20636Online
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, 2024Online
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/agronomy14071561Online
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.2022.10.001Online
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.2023.107062Online

Background

Education

DegreeMajorInstitutionYear Awarded
Doctorate of PhilosophyGeography (Land use and evironmental planning)University of Zaragoza, Spain2022
Master of ScienceIntegrated planning for rural development and management of natural resourcesMediterranean Agronomic Institute of Zaragoza, Spain2016
Bachelor of ScienceAgriculture and Management of Natural ResourcesUniversity of Cartage, Tunisia2014

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