Malak Tfaily | Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory

Integrating microbial meta-omics, isotopes and methane metabolites to connect belowground microbial processes to aboveground methane emissions in seasonally-inundated Amazonian floodplain forests

Lead Institution

University of Arizona

Principal Investigator

Scott Saleska

Project type

FICUS Research

The seasonally inundated floodplain forests of the Amazon River and its tributaries are iconic examples of ecosystems at the terrestrial-aquatic interface that are dominated by hydro…

Deciphering plant-plant, plant-microbe, and plant-soil interactions driving biological invasion in a southwestern desert grassland

Lead Institution

University of Arizona

Principal Investigator

Malak Tfaily

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Plant invasion is a major component of global change, leading to environmental transformations that alter ecosystem services and associated biogeochemical cycles. The overarching goal of this project…

FT ICRMS porewater analysis to quantify dissolved organic carbon lability and microbial activity in a coastal salt marsh

Lead Institution

University of Arizona

Principal Investigator

Malak Tfaily

It is imperative to understand the processes that govern greenhouse gas and dissolved organic carbon production in environments that currently operate as global carbon sinks. Salt marshes store…

Organo-I Scoping Efforts/Experiments for 200-UP-1 I-129 Remedy Evaluation Using Mass Spectrometry

Lead Institution

University of Arizona

Principal Investigator

Malak Tfaily

Isotopes of iodine were generated during plutonium production within the nine production reactors at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Hanford Site. The short half-life 131I was released from the…

FT ICRMS analysis of soil and dissolved organic matter to quantify links between microbial community composition and the concomitant CO2 and CH4 production mechanisms

Lead Institution

University of Arizona

Principal Investigator

Malak Tfaily

Currently the role of microbial community dynamics in controlling carbon cycling in boreal peatlands is poorly understood. Hodgkins et al. (2014 and in prep) showed that CO2:CH4 concentration ratios…

Influences of Hydrologic Exchange Flows on River Corridor and Watershed Biogeochemical Function

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

James Stegen

We are developing predictive understanding of the processes that govern influences of hydrologic exchange flows on water quality, nutrient dynamics, and ecosystem health in dynamic river corridor…

FT ICRMS and EEMs analysis to assess if the molecular composition of dissolved organic C (DOC) alters with warming of subtropical wetland soils.

Lead Institution

University of Florida

Principal Investigator

Patrick Inglett

Project type

Limited Scope

We propose to utilize EMSL’s ultra-high resolution mass spectrometry and spectroscopy capabilities to determine the composition of DOC from subtropical wetland oils, which have been incubated for one…

Investigating the carbon cycling implications of changing microbial leaf litter decomposition across a permafrost thaw gradient.

Lead Institution

University of Arizona

Principal Investigator

Scott Saleska

Project type

FICUS Research

Thawing arctic permafrost (which contains 30-50% of global soil carbon) is expected to drive substantial alterations to carbon (C) cycling that will accelerate climate change. As permafrost thaws,…

Development of an in situ multimodal mass spectrometry imaging approach for studying the rhizosphere: from revealing activation of metabolic pathways to elucidating nanoscale exchanges

Lead Institution

Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Christopher Anderton

Gaining spatial information of biochemical interactions that occur within the rhizosphere and other subsurface terrestrial ecosystems is an area of major interest. Through bulk extraction methods, we…

Advancing ecosystem understanding of carbon turnover and storage through molecular characterization

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Kirsten Hofmockel

EMSL Staff Proposal: The coupling between concurrently changing carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycles remains a key uncertainty in understanding feedbacks between the terrestrial C cycle and climate…

Deciphering Microbial Communication Through Metabolites

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Thomas Metz

This project will establish a Metabolomics Center at PNNL that will develop the advanced measurement capabilities necessary to define the metabolic processes of microbiomes and determine how these…

Can Microbial Ecology and Mycorrhizal Functioning Inform Climate Change Models?

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Kirsten Hofmockel

EMSL Staff Proposal: Using archived samples from forest Free Air CO2 Enrichment (FACE) experiments, field measurements from the Marcell Experimental Forest (MEF) and the Spruce and Peatland Response…

Microbial CH4 and CO2 Fluxes and C Stabilization Mechanisms in Soils

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Vanessa Bailey

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Current versions of the Community Land Model (CLM) do not represent the soil biogeochemical mechanisms controlling the fluxes of CO2 and CH4, two known greenhouse gases (GHG).. This failure is…

Deciphering Microbial Communication Through Metabolites

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Thomas Metz

This project will establish a Metabolomics Center at PNNL that will develop the advanced measurement capabilities necessary to define the metabolic processes of microbiomes and determine how these…

A new capability for high-resolution 3D imaging of soil structure and soil chemistry in the rhizosphere

Lead Institution

Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Tamas Varga

We aim to answer the following critical questions about the rhizosphere: (i) What is the distribution of important nutrient elements like P in the soil and around the root? (ii) How much of the…

Chemical Characteristics of Sediment Associated Organic Matter

Lead Institution

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Peter Nico

Project type

Exploratory Research

The goals of our proposed EMSL research are to develop methods for characterizing natural organic matter (NOM) that is associated with subsurface sediment using unique EMSL capabilities in FTICR MS,…

FT ICRMS analysis to assess the molecular-level composition of dissolved organic nitrogen in the runoff and surface water in the Indian River Lagoon, South Florida

Lead Institution

University of Florida

Principal Investigator

Zhenli He

Project type

Limited Scope

We propose to utilize EMSL’s ultra-high resolution mass spectrometry to determine the composition of dissolved organic N from runoff water and surface water of Indian River Lagoon. It is important to…

Rhizosphere effects on soil organic matter decomposition and microbial activity in a tropical rainforest under drought: unearthing aggregate- to ecosystem-scale contributions to carbon cycling through whole-ecosystem stable isotope labeling

Lead Institution

University of Arizona

Principal Investigator

Malak Tfaily

Project type

FICUS Research

Interactions at the plant-soil-microbe nexus are difficult to track given the complex networks of species and metabolites involved, in addition to the general challenges to studying heterogeneous and…

Insights into peatland carbon cycling derived from integration of Omics with biogeochemical profiling

Lead Institution

Michigan Technological University

Principal Investigator

Evan Kane

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Peatlands are one of the most important ecosystems providing feedbacks to the climate system because they store a large component (>30%) of the world's soil C stocks. Peatlands also are found…

Rhizosphere processes at molecular to core scale

Lead Institution

Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Nancy Hess

The amount of C in soil far exceeds the C content of atmosphere as well as the amount C stored above ground as plant biomass. The C fluxes between atmosphere and biomass are huge, many orders of…

Biomolecular linkages between detrital inputs and soil organic matter decomposition across temperate forest regions

Lead Institution

Oregon State University

Principal Investigator

Kate Lajtha

Project type

Exploratory Research

Limited knowledge of the molecular mechanisms behind soil organic matter (SOM) stabilization and destabilization processes impedes improving models of earth systems and global carbon dynamics, as…

Systems-level insights into carbon transformations in thawing permafrost by parallel high-resolution organic matter and microbial community characterization.

Lead Institution

Florida State University

Principal Investigator

Jeffrey Chanton

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

A fundamental challenge of modern biology is to understand how information encoded in the genes of organisms translates into physiological and biogeochemical processes manifested at ecosystem to…

The CCMEE - Culture Collection of Microorganisms from Extreme Environments as a platform for biodiversity research at EMSL

Lead Institution

Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Sherry Cady

PNNL is home to the CCMEE (Culture Collection of Microorganisms from Extreme Environments), a unique microbial extremophile culture collection. The CCMEE was transferred to EMSL from the University…

Understanding Biases in Natural Organic Matter FTICR Mass Spectrometry to More
Accurately Model Complex Environmental Systems

Lead Institution

Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Rosalie Chu

Characterization of natural organic matter (NOM) by direct infusion (DI) Fourier transform mass spectrometry (FTMS) yields rich and complex information about environmental systems. However, the…

Influence of Phosphorus on Soil Organic Nitrogen Pools in Subtropical Wetlands

Lead Institution

University of Arizona

Principal Investigator

Malak Tfaily

Soil organic nitrogen (SON) is a major source of bioavailable nitrogen (N) to biological communities, and therefore, is an important component of soil organic matter (SOM). In wetland systems,…

Network analysis of soil organic matter molecular chemistry to enable more robust modeling of C cycle along ecosystem gradients

Lead Institution

Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Nancy Hess

We will explore graphical network analysis of ultra-high resolution FTICR-MS datasets as the first step to derive a quantitative measure of soil organic matter quality that can inform microbially…

Belowground genotype-phenotype controls on nitrogen use efficiency of a sorghum bioenergy crop

Lead Institution

University of Arizona

Principal Investigator

Laura Meredith

Project type

FICUS Research

Plant-microbe interactions drive nitrogen (N) transformations in soil, and a detailed understanding of these inter-organismal interactions is needed to enhance crop productivity and N use efficiency,…

Biogeochemistry of Sulfur and Mercury in Soil Warming and Atmospheric CO2 Enrichment Experiments in Northern Peatlands

Lead Institution

University of Arizona

Principal Investigator

Malak Tfaily

We propose to utilize EMSL’s ultra high resolution mass spectrometry capabilities to determine the molecular composition of organic S-containing compounds in pore water dissolved organic matter (DOM)…

Stability of Organic Matter-Clay Systems in Presence of Aqueous Fe(II)

Lead Institution

Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Ravi Kukkadapu

Stabilization of soil organic matter (SOM) is important to sequestrate carbon and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. The factors that govern this stabilization and preservation of OM, under redox…

Systems-level insights into carbon transformations in thawing permafrost by parallel high-resolution organic matter and microbial community characterizations

Lead Institution

The Ohio State University

Principal Investigator

Virginia Rich

Project type

FICUS Research

A fundamental challenge of modern environmental science is to understand how earth systems will respond to climate change. A parallel challenge in biology is to understand how information encoded in…

Tracking the Fate of new C in Northern Peatlands by a Compound-Specific Stable Isotope-Labeling Approach coupled with FISH-NanoSIMS

Lead Institution

University of Arizona

Principal Investigator

Malak Tfaily

Here, we propose to examine the priming effect, drivers, and dynamics of the "new C" that is stimulated by climate change in Northern peatlands soil using a stable isotope labeling approach…

Rhizosphere Iron and Carbon Influence on Uranium Redox Cycling in a Wetland Environment

Lead Institution

Savannah River National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Daniel Kaplan

Project type

Special Science

All mobile contaminants in the upper aquifer eventually resurface in wetland areas. Due to their unique redox gradients and elevated microbial and organic carbon levels, wetlands tend to immobilize…

FT ICRMS analysis to assess the bioavailability of dissolved organic nitrogen in the storm runoff water from the St. Lucie Estuary watershed, South Florida

Lead Institution

University of Florida

Principal Investigator

Zhenli He

Project type

Limited Scope

We propose to utilize EMSL’s ultra-high resolution mass spectrometry to determine the bioavailability of dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) in storm water from citrus grove, pastureland and Canal C-24…

Dissolved Organic Matter Transformations in Wet Tropical Soils: The Effects of Redox Fluctuation

Lead Institution

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Jennifer Pett-Ridge

Project type

Special Science

In tropical systems, changes in climate will likely affect both the amplitude and periodicity of redox oscillations due to predicted increases in warming and precipitation intensity. Our research…

Can traces of hydrophobic Euphorbia polymers be found on sand particles from inside the fairy circles of Namibia?

Lead Institution

University of Pretoria

Principal Investigator

Jacobus Meyer

Project type

Limited Scope

There is currently no generally accepted hypothesis on the cause and maintenance of the hundreds of thousands of fairy circles (barren patches) found mainly in the Namibian pro-desert. Several…

Rhizosphere Underground:
Unraveling the Role of Microbes in Stabilizing Carbon Pools in Soils

Lead Institution

Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Alice Dohnalkova

Microorganisms are fundamental to biogeochemical cycling, as microbial metabolism significantly contributes to the regulation of terrestrial carbon and nitrogen cycling. However, the impact of the…

Carbon Sequestration Beneath the Active Zone of the Rhizosphere: Insights from Extremophile Ecosystems

Lead Institution

Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Sherry Cady

To better understand the ultimate fate of carbon sequestered in the subsurface, we are studying carbon sequestration mechanisms in mineralizing extremophile environments. Such ecosystems provide an…

Advancing soil C characterization using HRMS and NMR

Lead Institution

Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Nancy Hess

Soil organic matter consists of diverse and complex mixture of hundreds to thousands biological and metabolic products that are poorly characterized using current techniques. We seek to develop a…

Advancing ecosystem understanding of carbon turnover and storage through molecular characterization

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Kirsten Hofmockel

The coupling between concurrently changing carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycles remains a key uncertainty in understanding feedbacks between the terrestrial C cycle and climate change. Decades of…

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