Microbial decomposition of soil carbon in high-latitude tundra underlain with permafrost is one of the most important, but poorly understood, potential positive feedbacks of greenhouse gas emissions from terrestrial ecosystems into the atmosphere in a warmer world1, 2, 3, 4. Using integrated metagenomic technologies, we showed that the microbial functional […]
One of the primary challenges of our time is to feed a growing and more demanding world population with reduced external inputs and minimal environmental impacts, all under more variable and extreme climate conditions in the future1, 2, 3, 4. Conservation agriculture represents a set of three crop management principles […]
Alexander Fleming famously warned that the ignorant may someday misuse his life-saving discovery—penicillin—and select for resistant bacteria (1). This was prescient given the widespread use of subtherapeutic antibiotics by food-animal producers today. According to the findings of Van Boeckel et al. (2) in PNAS, the proliferation of ignorance is only […]
Carbon dioxide is the main greenhouse gas inducing climate change. Increased global CO2 emissions, estimated at 8.4 Pg C yr−1 at present, have accelerated from 1% yr−1during 1990–1999 to 2.5% yr−1 during 2000–2009 (ref. 1). The carbon balance of terrestrial ecosystems is the greatest unknown in the global C budget because […]
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 […]
ESSTE es una experiencia de tres semestres con oportunidades como pasantías y mentorías para estudiantes de cualquier licenciatura. El programa busca preparar a las próximas generaciones para enfrentarse a desafíos como sequías, incendios e inundaciones. El programa ESSTE fue creado en respuesta a la falta de oportunidades de entrenamiento y […]
The magnitude of carbon (C) loss to the atmosphere via microbial decomposition is a function of the amount of C stored in soils, the quality of the organic matter, and physical, chemical, and biological factors that comprise the environment for decomposition. The decomposability of C is commonly assessed by laboratory […]
In a year in which global temperature and atmospheric carbon dioxide records were broken, experts from 20 colleges and universities will gather virtually November 17-19, 2020 at Northern Arizona University to discuss why carbon reduction is critical to their institutions’ futures, and how each is forging a path to zero […]
Our aim is to use elevational gradients to quantify the relationship between temperature and ecosystem functioning. Ecosystem functions such as decomposition, nutrient cycling and carbon storage are linked with the amount of microbial biomass in the soil. Previous studies have shown variable relationships between elevation and soil microbial biomass (SMB). […]
Aim Leaf litter decomposition in freshwater ecosystems is a vital process linking ecosystem nutrient cycling, energy transfer and trophic interactions. In comparison to terrestrial ecosystems, in which researchers find that litter traits predominantly regulate litter decomposition worldwide, the dominant factors controlling its decomposition in aquatic ecosystems are still debated, with […]