Soil Moisture Effects on the Persistence of Microbial Organic Matter in Grassland Soils
California grasslands store the vast majority of their organic carbon stocks belowground. The key players responsible for not only the turnover of this soil carbon, but also its stabilization over time are members of the soil microbiome. Managing these special and complex soils requires a better understanding of how environmental factors influence the retention of microbes.
Researchers at HREC are currently assessing two key microbe controls: soil depth and soil water availability, to quantify the effect of drying intensity and microbial residue type. Their experiments will help to develop improved models of changing precipitation regimes on soil carbon accumulation which will inform state policy and management decisions related to soil health in California grasslands.
Researcher Spotlight: Dr. Jennifer Pett-Ridge
Jennifer is a senior staff scientist and group leader at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and an adjunct professor in the School of Natural Sciences at UC Merced. She works closely with Profs. Mary Firestone and and Jill Banfield at UC Berkeley and Prof. Joanne Emerson at UC Davis to study the biology and biogeochemistry of environmental microbial communities.
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Microbial residues are a primary ingredient in soil organic matter (SOM), a pool that is critical to agriculture, healthy ecosystems, and Earth’s climate. The LLNL Soil Microbiome Scientific Focus Area (SFA) seeks to understand how microbial ecophysiology, population dynamics, and microbe–mineral–organic matter interactions regulate the persistence of microbial residues in soil under changing moisture regimes.
