Date: 2019 to 2020
Primary Contact: Lara Souza
Research Location: Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory
Funding: University of Tennessee
Summary:
Microbial and ecosystem ecologists aim to connect shifts in plant and microbial community composition and physiology to subsequent changes in ecosystem functions such as C and nutrient cycling. Understanding long-term imprints of plant and microbial communities and associated soil C cycling under global change is paramount for predicting future global soil C stocks. By combining ecosystem-level measurements of soil C pools and fluxes with simultaneous measurements of plant physiology, abundance, and traits as well as microbial abundance, composition, and function in the longest continuously running soil warming experiment, this project will collect one of the most comprehensive data sets linking plant and microbial influence on soil C storage under global change. In addition, this research will use estimates of plant and microbial chemical fingerprints to detect their impacts on soil C pools and longevity in response to warming across soil depths. These data are necessary to project future soil C storage in a warmer climate.
