Ten Researchers Chosen for Summer MONet Soil Sampling

The Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) selected 10 principal investigators to conduct summer soil sampling projects for the Molecular Observation Network (MONet).

The researchers and their teams are collecting 74 soil cores from tree cover, cropland, wetlands, and grass/shrub land use across the continental United States. The soil cores will be sent to EMSL for analysis to generate data for the publicly available MONet database. EMSL, a Department of Energy, Office of Science user facility at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, developed the Molecular Observation Network in 2023.

MONet provides standardized, AI-ready molecular and microstructural data to advance the predictive understanding of complex systems. MONet data are designed to inspire the development of new biosynthesis routes for bioenergy and bioproducts. Additionally, MONet molecular data can be used to support numerical simulations across entire regions to improve the security and reliability of these energy systems.

These data support fundamental research leading to solutions for the nation’s energy security challenges.

The MONet fall sampling soil call opens June 17.

Meet the summer awardees.

Henrik Scheller 

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Ecoregion: Pacific Southwest

Land use: Cropland

Location: Davis, California

The objective of this project, led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, is to understand how boosting the production of 4-hydroxybenzoic acid, a valuable bioproduct, and lignocellulosic biomass in the bioenergy crop sorghum affects soil microbes and nutrient cycling. By investigating soil dynamics, i.e., microbial activity, researchers aim to gain insights into how optimizing feedstock traits for biofuel production influences ecosystem functions and supports energy challenges.

Madison Morris

University of California, Davis

Ecoregion: Desert Southwest

Land use: Grass/shrub

Location: Oro Valley, Arizona

In a project led by the University of California, Davis, researchers are investigating soil fungal contributions to mineral weathering in its earliest stage in Arizona’s Sonoran Desert. This project combines field- and lab-based methods to identify abiotic and biotic weathering agents and to characterize mineral weathering features using high-resolution microscopy and other microscale methods. The MONet soil program will complement the research team’s efforts to understand fungal contributions to mineral weathering and biogeochemical cycling.

Shersingh Joseph Tumber-Dávila 

Dartmouth College

Ecoregion: Northeast

Land use: Grass/shrub & Forest

Location: Petersham, Massachusetts

Researchers from Dartmouth College, Boston College City University of New York, Williams College, and Harvard University are investigating how plant–soil–microbe interactions across forest structural gradients and altered early-growing-season precipitation regimes influence belowground biogeochemical cycling. Participation in MONet will contextualize their findings by integrating standardized soil biogeochemistry metrics with broader datasets.

Jessica LaBella

Case Western Reserve University

Ecoregion: Great Lakes

Land use: Cropland

Location: Hunting Valley, Ohio

In a study headed by Case Western Reserve University, researchers are contributing to the understanding of how microbial community composition changes with seasonal variation and thermal stress. Soil microbes are instrumental to soil biogeochemical cycles, and understanding how the movement of mobile genetic elements (MGEs) impacts microbial processes is important to predicting community adaptability in response to stress. The metagenomes provided by MONet will provide a set of reference genomes that the researchers can use to map MGE sequences to obtain species information and a more thorough metagenomic profile of the soil.

Kyle Runion 

University of Texas at Austin

Ecoregion: Southeast

Land use: Wetlands

Location: Sapelo Island, Georgia

The University of Texas at Austin is leading a project assessing soil biogeochemical conditions along a belowground productivity gradient in salt marshes. They have identified areas of marsh with declining and stable belowground biomass, which can indicate system resilience to external environmental factors. By participating in the MONet program, the team aims to uncover the biogeochemical drivers of marsh loss, which have never been investigated in the context of belowground productivity patterns. Linking soil biogeochemical properties to plant belowground productivity may explain the mechanisms of ongoing marsh decline and improve Earth system models related to marsh resilience.

Leanne Bulger

University of Alaska Fairbanks

Ecoregion: Taiga

Land use: Tree cover

Location: Fairbanks, Alaska

A team of researchers from the University of Alaska Fairbanks are investigating structural and functional transitions in boreal forest soil experiencing advanced permafrost degradation. The MONet program will support a comparison of physical, geochemical, and biological properties between two cavities formed from melting permafrost, two without cavities, and one control site that isn’t affected by permafrost. Data from MONet will improve the understanding of structural and functional shifts that occur pre- and post-ground structural collapse and compare conditions between cavities.

Klaus Nuesslein

University of Massachusetts Amherst

Ecoregion: Northeast

Land use: Cropland

Location: South Deerfield, Massachusetts

Researchers with the University of Massachusetts Amherst are studying the effectiveness of biological nitrification inhibition in corn agriculture. Specifically, they are examining root exudates of sorghum to enhance nitrogen fertilizer availability to both sorghum and maize when intercropped together. With the help of staff scientists at EMSL, the researchers hope to uncover fine-scale properties and microbial community shifts that influence nitrous oxide production in agricultural soils.

Hope Fillingim

USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station

Ecoregion: Southeast

Land use: Tree cover

Location: Cordesville, South Carolina

The objective of this project is to augment available soil data to support an ongoing project studying the biogeochemistry of tidal freshwater wetlands. In this research led by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service Southern Research Station, samples will be collected in both tidal and nontidal forested wetland sites to explore soil and hydrological differences.

Pamela Sullivan

Oregon State University

Ecoregion: Pacific Northwest

Land use: Tree cover

Location: H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest, Blue River, Oregon

Wildfire activity in the Pacific Northwest has increased in recent years, yet a comprehensive understanding of ecosystem resiliency to soil burn severity (SBS) and tree mortality remains elusive. In a project led by Oregon State University, researchers aim to disentangle the impacts of SBS and tree mortality and how they influence soil infiltration dynamics and soil properties. By participating in the MONet program, the team is working to obtain soil chemical and physical properties across a gradient of tree mortalities and SBSs to understand the impact of external environmental factors on soil dynamics in wet forests.

Janet Prevey

U.S. Geological Survey

Ecoregion: Central Plains

Land use: Grass/shrub

Location: Lyons, Colorado

U.S. Geological Survey and University of Colorado researchers are conducting detailed comparisons of soil chemical properties, soil structure, and soil biota between cheatgrass-dominated and native-plant-dominated soils at sites near Lyons, Colorado. Data points from this invaded mixed-grass prairie site will contribute information on the impacts that invasive grasses have on soils. These findings can help scientists understand how invasive grasses alter soil ecosystems, reveal whether impacts in mixed-grass prairies differ from those in the more frequently sampled Great Basin ecosystems, and inform future land management strategies.