Natural Organic Matter Composition and its Influence on Microbial Dynamics and Biogeochemical Processes at the Catchment Scale
EMSL Project ID
47687
Abstract
Natural organic material (NOM) present in surface and subsurface environments is able to drive biogeochemical cycles, with implications for carbon flux, nutrient flow, and contaminant metal remediation. Until recently, our understanding of its composition, fractionation, and sequestration has been limited due to an inability to fully characterize its chemical signature in complex environments. NOM pools that vary in space and time for multiple hydrologic sources interact with terrestrial and subsurface reservoirs as it moves through the catchment. Understanding the extent to which NOM fractions are selectively processed by indigenous microflora under differing climatic and hydrologic conditions is still largely unexplored, yet critical to our understanding of microbial community dynamics and biogeochemical processes. New analytical methods and equipment resources at EMSL are providing unprecedented opportunities to probe the molecular composition of NOM in complex natural systems. Using Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS) with electrospray ionization (ESI) analysis, we propose a broader investigation into the spatiotemporal variability of NOM composition, and its microbial utilization from defined catchments of interest to the DOE. The spatiotemporal characterization of NOM from field samples will be coupled with laboratory experiments involving microbial isolates and indigenous microorganisms and EMSL Orbitrap proteomics analysis (Velos MS, Linear ion trap) to investigate how NOM pools drive microbial enzymatic process, organic matter sequestration, and element cycling between liquid and solid phases. These investigations will improve our understanding of nutrient cycling in addition to providing insight into the microbial processing of NOM for refining subsurface and catchment-scale biogeochemical models.
Project Details
Project type
Exploratory Research
Start Date
2012-12-03
End Date
2013-09-30
Status
Closed
Released Data Link
Team
Principal Investigator
Team Members