One of the largest reservoirs of carbon and home to billions of microorganisms, soil is a highly complex ecosystem that is essential to a healthy climate.
One of the largest reservoirs of carbon and home to billions of microorganisms, soil is a highly complex ecosystem that is essential to a healthy climate.
As climate change continues to alter the Earth’s temperature and precipitation patterns, West Virginia University researchers hope to develop more precise predictions about the role specific soil microorganisms play in the carbon cycle.
Given the diverse components of soil – minerals, organic matter, living organisms, gasses and water - scientists have struggled for decades to understand the ecology and function of soil microorganisms.
Funded by a $756,318 grant from the National Science Foundation, Ember Morrissey, associate professor of environmental microbiology, and Eddie Brzostek, associate professor of forest ecology and ecosystem modeling, aim to determine which microorganisms consume key types of soil carbon and use the findings to help better predict climate change.
“Microbes are important for soil organic matter decomposition,” Morrissey said. “They are the primary actors performing that process and, as a consequence, they play a big role in the global carbon cycle, returning carbon that enters the soil from above ground plant production to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.”
Read more at: West Virginia University
Soil microbes transform carbon entering soil from plants, returning some to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide (CO2) and producing microbial residues that facilitate carbon sequestration in soil. These microbial activities influence ecosystem feedbacks to global change. (Photo Credit: WVU Illustration/Chansotheary Dang)
