Collaborative Research: Controls over C sequestration: physiology vs. physics

由于二氧化碳在温室效应和气候变化中的作用，了解全球碳循环是生态系统科学面临的一个核心问题。地球上有机碳的主要储存地之一是土壤，土壤中有机碳的含量比生长在土壤上的所有植物都要多。该项目旨在通过评估调节微生物获取碳的物理过程（扩散和解吸），以及它们如何利用碳制造酶来获取额外的资源，并改变它们的直接环境，从而更好地了解碳封存。这项工作的一个主要重点将是探索这些过程如何受到土壤湿度和干旱的影响。这项研究将在加州的塞奇威克保护区进行，并将结合现场实验来控制植物的新鲜碳和水输入，通过实验室研究来评估控制过程的具体机制，并通过数学模型将这些精细机制与更大规模的动力学联系起来。该项目将有助于培养跨学科的研究生研究人员，并将本科生纳入研究环境。在公众宣传方面，该项目将依靠塞奇威克保护区？美国公共教育中心。研究人员已经就土壤、土壤研究及其对社会的重要性进行了介绍。他们将用来自这个项目的信息更新这些信息，并与讲解员一起在他们的教育项目中使用。研究小组成员将继续指导K-12学生的活动，例如为当地圣伊内斯谷联合高中学区的10年级学生进行的“土壤的生命！”土壤生态学示范，

Understanding the global carbon cycle is a central issue facing ecosystem science because of carbon dioxide's (CO2) role in the greenhouse effect and climate change. One of the main stores of organic carbon on Earth is in soil, which contains more organic carbon than all the plants growing upon it. This project aims to better understand C-sequestration by evaluating the physical processes (diffusion & desorption) that regulate microorganisms' access to C, and how they use that C to make enzymes to acquire additional resources, and modify their immediate environment. A major focus of the work will be to explore how these processes are influenced by soil moisture and drought. The research will be done at the Sedgwick Reserve in California, and will use a combination of field experiments to manipulate plant inputs of fresh carbon and water inputs, laboratory studies to evaluate specific mechanisms involved in controlling the processes, and mathematical modeling to relate these fine-scale mechanisms to larger-scale dynamics.This project will help train interdisciplinary graduate student researchers, and will involve undergraduate students, bringing them into the research environment. For public outreach, the project will rely on Sedgwick Reserve?s center for public education. The investigators have developed presentations about soils, soil research, and their importance to society. They will update these with information from this project, and work with the docents to use in their educational programs. Members of the research team will continue their activities mentoring K-12 students with programs such as their "Soil's Alive!" demonstration of soil ecology for 10th graders from the local Santa Ynez Valley Union High School District,