A5056434478- Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology
- Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics
- Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies
- Isotope Analysis in Ecology
- Coastal wetland ecosystem dynamics
- Mycorrhizal Fungi and Plant Interactions
- Gut microbiota and health
- Bioenergy crop production and management
- Peatlands and Wetlands Ecology
- Environmental DNA in Biodiversity Studies
- Soil and Water Nutrient Dynamics
- Wastewater Treatment and Nitrogen Removal
- Biofuel production and bioconversion
- Legume Nitrogen Fixing Symbiosis
- Protist diversity and phylogeny
- Geology and Paleoclimatology Research
- Forest Ecology and Biodiversity Studies
- Seedling growth and survival studies
- Nematode management and characterization studies
- Invertebrate Taxonomy and Ecology
- Constructed Wetlands for Wastewater Treatment
- Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
- Plant nutrient uptake and metabolism
- Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics
- Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior
West Virginia University
2016-2025
Northern Arizona University
2015-2024
Virginia Commonwealth University
2013-2016
Abstract Climate change‐associated sea level rise is expected to cause saltwater intrusion into many historically freshwater ecosystems. Of particular concern are tidal wetlands, which perform several important ecological functions including carbon sequestration. To predict the impact of in these environments, we must first gain a better understanding how salinity regulates decomposition natural systems. This study sampled eight wetlands ranging from oligohaline (0–2 ppt) four rivers near...
ABSTRACT Bacteria grow and transform elements at different rates, as yet, quantifying this variation in the environment is difficult. Determining isotope enrichment with fine taxonomic resolution after exposure to tracers could help, but there are few suitable techniques. We propose a modification s table i sotope p robing (SIP) that enables isotopic composition of DNA from individual bacterial taxa be determined. In our modification, isopycnic centrifugation, collected multiple density...
Abstract Optimal methods for incorporating soil microbial mechanisms of carbon (C) cycling into Earth system models (ESMs) are still under debate. Specifically, whether physiology parameters and residual materials important to organic C (SOC) content is unclear. Here, we explored the effects biotic abiotic factors on SOC based a survey soils from 16 locations along ~4000 km forest transect in eastern China, spanning wide range climate, conditions, communities. We found that was highly...
Abstract Study of life history strategies may help predict the performance microorganisms in nature by organizing complexity microbial communities into groups organisms with similar strategies. Here, we tested extent that one common application theory, copiotroph-oligotroph framework, could relative population growth rate bacterial taxa soils from four different ecosystems. We measured change situ to added glucose and ammonium using both 18O–H2O 13C quantitative stable isotope probing test...
Manipulating microorganisms to increase soil organic carbon (SOC) in croplands remains a challenge. Soil microbes are important drivers of SOC sequestration, especially via their necromass accumulation. However, microbial parameters rarely used predict cropland stocks, possibly due uncertainties regarding the relationships between pools, community properties and SOC. Herein we evaluated (diversity network complexity), pools (biomass carbon) 468 soils across northeast China. We found that not...
Phylogeny is an ecologically meaningful way to classify plants and animals, as closely related taxa frequently have similar ecological characteristics, functional traits effects on ecosystem processes. For bacteria, however, phylogeny has been argued be unreliable indicator of organism's ecology owing evolutionary processes more common microbes such gene loss lateral transfer, well convergent evolution. Here we use advanced stable isotope probing with (13)C (18)O show that history...
Abstract Water drives the functioning of Earth’s arid and semiarid lands. Drylands can obtain water from sources other than precipitation, yet little is known about how non-rainfall inputs influence dryland communities their activity. In particular, vapor adsorption – movement atmospheric into soil when air drier overlying likely occurs often in drylands, its effects on ecosystem processes are not known. By adding 18 O-enriched to atmosphere a closed system, we documented conversion liquid...
Abstract Understanding how population‐level dynamics contribute to ecosystem‐level processes is a primary focus of ecological research and has led important breakthroughs in the ecology macroscopic organisms. However, inability measure population‐specific rates, such as growth, for microbial taxa within natural assemblages limited ecologists’ understanding populations interact regulate ecosystem processes. Here, we use isotope incorporation DNA molecules model taxon‐specific population...
Abstract Nutrient amendment diminished bacterial functional diversity, consolidating carbon flow through fewer taxa. Here, we show strong differences in the taxa responsible for respiration from four ecosystems, indicating potential taxon-specific control over soil cycling. Trends defined as richness of bacteria contributing to flux and their equitability use, paralleled trends taxonomic diversity although was lower overall. Among genera common all Bradyrhizobium , Acidobacteria genus RB41...
Abstract Sea level rise and changes in precipitation can cause saltwater intrusion into historically freshwater wetlands, leading to shifts microbial metabolism that alter greenhouse gas emissions soil carbon sequestration. Saltwater modifies physicochemistry immediately affect metabolism, but further alterations biogeochemical processing occur over time as communities adapt the changed environmental conditions. To assess temporal community composition activity due intrusion, cores were...
Predation structures food webs, influences energy flow, and alters rates pathways of nutrient cycling through ecosystems, effects that are well documented for macroscopic predators. In the microbial world, predatory bacteria common, yet little is known about their growth roles in flows part because these difficult to quantify. Here, we show carbon uptake were higher compared nonpredatory bacteria, a finding across 15 sites, synthesizing 82 experiments over 100,000 taxon-specific measurements...
Abstract Soil bacteria and fungi mediate terrestrial biogeochemical cycling, but we know relatively little about how trophic interactions influence their community composition, diversity, function. Specifically, it is unclear consumer populations affect the activity of microbial taxa they consume, therefore interaction those with other members community. Due to its extreme studying dynamics in soil a complex feat. Seeking address these challenges, performed microcosm‐based manipulation...
Abstract Soil is home to a multitude of microorganisms from all three domains life. These organisms and their interactions are crucial in driving the cycling soil carbon. One key indicator this process Microbial Carbon Use Efficiency (CUE), which shows how microbes influence carbon storage through biomass production. Although CUE varies among different microorganisms, there have been few studies that directly examine biotic factors CUE. such factor could be body size, can impact microbial...
Summary Nitrogen (N) deposition affects myriad aspects of terrestrial ecosystem structure and function, microbial communities may be particularly sensitive to anthropogenic N inputs. However, our understanding effects on is far from complete, especially for drylands where data are comparatively rare. To address the need an improved dryland biological responses deposition, we conducted a two‐year fertilization experiment in semiarid grassland Colorado Plateau southwestern United States. We...
Abstract Secondary minerals (clays and metal oxides) are important components of the soil matrix. Clay affect carbon persistence cycling, they also select for distinct microbial communities. Here we show that mineral assemblages—particularly short-range order minerals—affect both bacterial community composition taxon-specific growth. Three soils with different parent material presence were collected from ecosystems similar vegetation climate. These three provided 18O-labeled water incubated...