Despite abounding evidence that leaf litter traits can predict decomposition rate, the way these traits influence trophic efficiency and element transfer to higher trophic levels is not resolved. Here, we used litter labeled with 13C and 15N stable isotopes to trace fluxes of litter C and N from four leaf […]
Globally, soils store two to three times as much carbon as currently resides in the atmosphere, and it is critical to understand how soil greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and uptake will respond to ongoing climate change. In particular, the soil-to-atmosphere CO2 flux, commonly though imprecisely termed soil respiration (RS), is […]
The addition of glucose to soil has long been used to study the metabolic activity of microbes in soil; however, the response of the microbial ecophysiology remains poorly characterized. To address this, we sequenced the metagenomes and metatranscriptomes of glucose-amended soil microbial communities in a laboratory incubation.
Large-scale vegetation restoration projects pose threats to water resource security in water-limited regions. Thus, the quantification of how vegetation cover affects soil moisture is of key importance to support effective restoration schemes in drylands. However, the current understanding of such effects remains poor. For this study, an in-situ vegetation-removal experiment […]
When multiple metabolic pathways lead to the same product, compound-specific isotope analysis may not provide enough information to quantify the activities of the contributing pathways. Instead, identification of where in the molecule the 13C is incorporated is required. Here we show how knowledge of position-specific 13C incorporation in fatty acids […]
Quantitative stable isotope probing (qSIP) estimates the degree of incorporation of an isotope tracer into nucleic acids of metabolically active organisms and can be applied to microorganisms growing in complex communities, such as the microbiomes of soil or water. As such, qSIP has the potential to link microbial biodiversity and […]
Water and CO2 flux responses (e.g., evapotranspiration [ET] and net ecosystem exchange [NEE]) to environmental conditions can provide insights into how climate change will affect the terrestrial water and carbon budgets, especially in sensitive semiarid ecosystems. Here, we evaluated sensitivity of daily ET and NEE to current and antecedent (past) […]
Growth of soil microorganisms is often described as carbon limited, and adding labile carbon to soil often results in a transient and large increase in respiration. In contrast, soil microbial biomass changes little, suggesting that growth and respiration are decoupled in response to a carbon pulse. Alternatively, measuring bulk responses […]
Organic matter input to soils can accelerate the decomposition of native soil carbon (C), a process called the priming effect. Priming is ubiquitous and exhibits some consistent patterns, but a general explanation remains elusive, in part because of variation in the response across different ecosystems, and because of a diversity […]
Effects of riparian vegetation on fluvial sediment dynamics depend on morphological traits of the constituent species. Determining the effects of different morphological guilds on sedimentation rates, as influenced by multiple aspects of dam operations, can help identify viable strategies for streamflow and vegetation management to achieve riparian resource goals. Plants […]