We’re starting a new project “Microbes, memory, and moisture: leveraging DroughtNet to predict how microbial moisture responses will impact carbon cycling” funded by the National Science Foundation. Soil microbial responses to future rainfall conditions, and their role in carbon storage vs. release, remain a significant source of uncertainty. This work builds on our previous long-term studies on climate legacies across a Texas rainfall gradient, allowing us to address the generality of those findings by sampling globally. Read more about it here (as well as cool new work by Kevin Garcia on root symbionts and potassium).
We’re excited to collaborate with Sarah Evans at MSU and Steve Allison at UCI, as well as Melinda Smith at CSU and all the folks involved in the DroughtNet RCN.