Ambient nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from Great Boiling Spring (GBS) in the US Great Basin depended on temperature, with the highest flux, 67.8 ± 2.6 μmol N2O-N m−2 day−1, occurring in the large source pool at 82 °C. This rate of N2O production contrasted with negligible production from nearby soils and was similar to rates from […]
Ecosystems regulate climate through biogeochemistry and biophysics, but current policies only recognize biogeochemical influences. A new proposal to include biophysical effects changes the climate value of ecosystems, and sets the stage to expand the suite of climate regulation services considered in global policies and carbon markets.
Six terrestrial ecosystems in the USA were exposed to elevated atmospheric CO2 in single or multifactorial experiments for more than a decade to assess potential impacts. We retrospectively assessed soil bacterial community responses in all six-field experiments and found ecosystem-specific and common patterns of soil bacterial community response to elevated […]
A forest carbon (C) offset is a quantifiable unit of C that is commonly developed at the local or regional project scale and is designed to counterbalance anthropogenic C emissions by sequestering C in trees. In cap-and-trade programs, forest offsets have market value if the sequestered C is additional (more […]
Increased atmospheric CO2 and rising temperatures are expected to affect rice yields and greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions from rice paddies1, 2, 3, 4. This is important, because rice cultivation is one of the largest human-induced sources of the potent GHG methane5 (CH4) and rice is the world’s second-most produced staple crop6. […]
Branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (bGDGTs) are membrane-spanning lipids that likely stabilize membranes of some bacteria. Although bGDGTs have been reported previously in certain geothermal environments, it has been suggested that they may derive from surrounding soils since bGDGTs are known to be produced by soil bacteria. To test the […]
At 6 A.M. on the first day of winter break, a van full of high school stu- dents and teachers set out for Fossil Creek in Arizona to conduct measurements for an ongoing environmental project (which monitors changes to the creek). The group had a long day ahead—hiking about 7 […]
1. We examined the relative importance of litter quality and stream characteristics in determining decomposition rate and the macroinvertebrate assemblage living on autumn- shed leaves. 2. We compared the decomposition rates of five native riparian tree species (Populus fremontii, Alnus oblongifolia, Platanus wrightii, Fraxinus velutina and Quercus gambelii) across three […]
At the time of this study Fossil Creek was being considered as a site for the restoration of a native fish assemblage, however there was concern amongst fisheries managers about the stream being food limited due to calcium carbonate (travertine) deposition. To evaluate the effects of travertine deposition on the […]
Isoprenoidal glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetra ethers (iGDGTs) are core membrane lipids of many archaea that enhance the integrity of cytoplasmic membranes in extreme environments. We examined the iGDGT profiles and corresponding aqueous geochemistry in 40 hot spring sediment and microbial mat samples from the U.S. Great Basin with temperatures ranging […]