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Scaling microbial carbon use efficiency from the individual to the community


EMSL Project ID
60283

Abstract

Soil microorganisms are recognized as the key agents in the global biogeochemical cycling of nutrients important for life such as carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P). Soil organic matter processed by microorganisms is now understood to constitute the largest proportion of stable, long-term soil carbon. Thus, of critical concern is the efficiency with which microorganisms allocate carbon resources between biomass pools that contribute to stable soil carbon, and respiration as CO2 into the atmosphere. The project will quantify essential trade-offs in resource allocations across the microbial tree of life which determine whether soil communities retain carbon in the soil or release it into the atmosphere in response to changing environmental conditions. The project will use stable isotope probing to identify the experimental responses and the related traits of individual microorganisms within the complex soil environment and match these to community-level shifts in carbon pathways.

Project Details

Start Date
2022-02-03
End Date
2022-09-30
Status
Closed

Team

Principal Investigator

Bram WG Stone
Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Co-Investigator(s)

Kirsten Hofmockel
Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory