We study soil microbial communities in Antarctica, microbes in hot spring ecosystems in Tengchong, China, methane production at Axel Heiberg Island near Greenland as an analog for life on other planets, and the distribution of soil microbial communities across the arid Southwest.
Bruce Hungate, Director of Ecoss gave the keynote address to the Goldschmidt Conference in Prague this week for the session, “How do Biogeochemical Cycles Operate on a high-CO2 Planet?” The abstract for Dr. Hungate’s keynote address was entitled “Rising CO2 and the Biogeochemistry of Soil Microbial Ecosystems.”
As part of a large interdisciplinary team, with funding from the National Science Foundation, we have studied how genetic and environmental factors affect leaf litter quality in cottonwoods and other riparian species, and how these effects are manifest in aquatic ecosystems.
Invasive plants like cheatgrass have huge and costly effects on ecosystems. Restoring native plants to areas invaded by cheatgrass is challenging, and one explanation for poor seedling establishment is the absence of beneficial soil microbes. In this project, we are testing the idea that restoring microbial communities promotes ecosystem recovery and the re-establishment of native plants.
In forests around the world, drought leaves a legacy that endures even after the rains return. Three Northern Arizona University researchers contributed to a study published this week in Science that showed surviving trees took an average of two to four years to recover and resume normal growth rates after […]
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Please consider a charitable gift to the Center for Ecosystem Science and Society this year. Scientific research in the service of society can enhance quality of life and pique human curiosity. Generous support from the university and grants from federal agencies cover only a part of our work, so your […]
NAU professor and a team of researchers are seeking to better understand staph bacteria, information that could lead to reductions of the potentially lethal pathogen. Abstract The human microbiome can play a key role in host susceptibility to pathogens, including in the nasal cavity, a site favored by Staphylococcus aureus. […]
Sunrise over the subtropical oak woodland, elevated CO2 experiment at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The experiment used open-top chambers to increase CO2 concentrations, with paired chambers with no extra CO2 serving as controls. The experiment ran from 1996-2007. Photo credit: Bert Drake.