A study led by Northern Arizona University offers new evidence that a common framework to sort bacteria into two lifestyles doesn’t easily apply to bacteria living in wild soil. The findings, published in The ISME Journal, show that rather than bacteria falling into two major lifestyle groups—one adapted to be competitive and […]
Predatory bacteria—bacteria that eat other bacteria—grow faster and consume more resources than non-predators in the same soil, according to a new study out this week from Northern Arizona University. These active predators, which use wolfpack-like behavior, enzymes, and cytoskeletal ‘fangs’ to hunt and feast on other bacteria, wield important power […]
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are widespread and are increasingly associated with human infections. Inappropriate antibiotic use – both in people and in animals raised for food – drives the evolution of multi-drug-resistant pathogens and threatens a post-antibiotic era – one in which minor infections can kill. The majority of antibiotics are actually sold for use in food […]
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are widespread and are increasingly associated with human infections. Inappropriate antibiotic use – both in people and in animals raised for food – drives the evolution of multi-drug-resistant pathogens and threatens a post-antibiotic era – one in which minor infections can kill. The majority of antibiotics are actually sold for use in food […]
Native soil carbon (C) can be lost in response to fresh C inputs, via the “priming effect,” a phenomenon observed for decades yet still not understood. Using dual-stable isotope probing, Ecoss research showed that priming involves changes in the diversity and composition of two functional bacterial groups: a single-substrate pulse […]
Plant growth often responds rapidly to experimentally simulated climate change1, 2. Feedbacks can modulate the initial responses3, but these feedbacks are difficult to detect when they operate on long timescales4. We transplanted intact plant–soil mesocosms down an elevation gradient to expose them to a warmer climate and used collectors and […]
Overview Fire, a natural ecological disturbance, has been suppressed in U.S. forests for much of the past century. This has prevented damage to property and protected timber resources, but has caused many forests to develop in an unnatural manner, resulting in dense stands of small trees that are now poised […]
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.”
Fossil Creek Restoration Can we restore a river after a century of disturbance? Research in the Marks Lab has addressed the following questions: How did native species respond to restoration? Employing a BACI design (Before After Control Impact), we determined the relative importance of flow restoration versus non-native fish removal […]
Overview The identities of organisms profoundly influence ecosystems, and microbial diversity is vast. The obvious disconnect between this diversity and its treatment in C cycling models is perhaps the best manifestation of the common complaint that so much physiology, taxonomy, ecology, and diversity is ignored when microbial communities are described […]