Pete ChuckranGraduate Student

Published by Ecoss on

Metatranscriptomics, Soil biogeochemistry, Metagenomics Pfc25@nau.edu Drs. Bruce Hungate and Paul Dijkstra
    Research Interests

    Chuckran’s research is largely focused on the gene expression of soil microbial communities during the nitrogen cycle. By isolating the RNA for a soil community, referred to as the metatranscriptome, it is possible to gain an understanding of gene expression at a given time point. Through incubation, greenhouse, and field studies, Chuckran hopes to be able to identify specific genes associated with biogeochemical cycling and environmental stress.

    Full Curriculum Vitae
    Selected Publications:

    Antoninka A,  Bowker MA, Chuckran P, Barger NN, Reed S, Belnap J. 2017. Maximizing establishment and survivorship of field-collected and greenhouse-cultivated biocrusts in a semi-cold desert. Plant and Soil. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-017- 3300-3

    Chuckran P​, and Frank D.A. 2013. ​Herbivores regulate the sensitivity of soil organic carbon decomposition to warming. Environmental Research Letters 8: 044013.

    Categories:

    Related Posts

    A CIRCUIT SHOWS HOW CLIMATE WARMING MAY ALTER DIFFERENT ECOLOGICAL LEGACIES IN THE ARCTIC BOREAL FOREST, WHICH THEN FEEDBACK INTO CLIMATE WARMING AND CHANGES TO LANDSCAPE PROCESSES.

    NAU-led research team receives $9.6M to study how Alaska’s forests change, adapt to warmer future

    Ecological memory stored in a landscape can help an ecosystem recover from disturbances like fire and outbreaks of disease. But what happens when climate warming disrupts that process? How long before ecological memories stored in Read more…

    A SCATTERPLOT DEPICTS HOW MUCH CARBON OR OXYGEN ISOTOPE DIFFERENT SOIL BACTERIA TOOK INTO THEIR DNA (A PROXY FOR GROWTH) DURING A 7-DAY EXPERIMENT. SMALL POINTS REPRESENT THE GROWTH OF INDIVIDUAL BACTERIAL STRAINS LINKED BY LINES TO THE AVERAGE GROWTH OF THEIR CLOSEST IDENTIFIED GENUS. COLORS WERE ASSIGNED BY A CLUSTERING ALGORITHM TO GROUP GENERA INTO FAST-GROWING OR SLOW-GROWING LIFESTYLES.

    Lifestyles of the fast and slow (bacteria): In the wild, most live in the slow lane

    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 Read more…

    A trio of illustrated panels depicts the soil microbial communities in three treatments of a long-term warming experiment north of Flagstaff, Arizona. The panels are labeled in gray text, left to right: control, short-term warming, long-term warming. The control treatment, far left, depicts bacteria, protists, and other microorganisms identified by sequencing the soil’s metagenome in yellow, orange, green, and blue, along with chains of available nutrients. Soil depicted in the center panel, which has undergone short-term warming, shows an increased abundance and diversity of microbes, some of which are growing, incorporating nutrients, and respiring carbon dioxide. The soil that has undergone long-term warming, imagined in the panel on the right, shows fewer microbial species and competitive relationships that are developing for control of the scarcer nutrients.

    Does a warmer future favor microbial friend or foe? Ecoss researchers win $3.4M to study interactions in changing soil

    In 2002, the Odyssey probe discovered evidence of past ice on Mars. The U.S. Congress authorized the Iraq War resolution. The Anaheim Angels won the World Series. And in a meadow 15 miles north of Read more…