NSF Award
2218954
The central United States once contained the largest tallgrass prairie ecosystem on Earth. Through agricultural and urban development, most of this ecosystem - and the benefits it provided to soil health, carbon storage and biodiversity - were lost. Today, ecosystem restoration is an important way that land managers and scientists can work together to return ecosystems such as tallgrass prairies to the North American landscape, along with the benefits they provide. Typical restoration strategies focus on seeding native plants. That approach overlooks the millions of soil microorganisms that were also disrupted through tilling and fertilization. Research shows that many processes fall short of their potential in restored systems because the amounts and types of microorganisms in the soil remain permanently altered. Critically, this affects how much carbon can be retained in the restored soil. Reframing restoration goals so that they focus on managing ecosystems that act as optimal carbon sinks is an important step toward balancing greenhouse gas emissions and reversing the effects of environmental change. The first step to accomplishing this goal requires greater understanding of how basic management choices affect soil microbial carbon use. This project leverages an existing NSF-funded study that includes two metrics (land area and number of plant species) and will examine the efficiency with which soil microorganisms use carbon in these different treatments. This mid-career advancement award (MCA) will provide support for a scientist at a critical career juncture to advance their research by learning new techniques for measuring an important trait of microorganisms. Results of this work will be communicated broadly with six regional land management organizations in southwest Michigan.<br/><br/>The main goal of this research is to understand how plant richness and restoration area influence carbon use efficiency (CUE), soil bacterial and fungal community composition, function and heterogeneity in restored prairies. These goals will be addressed using the Conservation Lands Experiment (CLE), an ongoing research project at Kellogg Biological Station Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site. The CLE maintains 12 sites ranging from 0.3 – 3.2 hectares, which were planted with low- and high-richness plant seed mixes in 2015. It is an ideal experiment in which to test applied questions about how restoration strategies influence microbial diversity and heterogeneity using a spatially-explicit sampling design. Next-generation DNA sequencing and analyses, putative functional pathway prediction and other common soil metrics are standard procedures for the PI, but the value of these variables will be enhanced when coupled with rate-based measurements of carbon fluxes. This project expands the PI’s research expertise by providing time and resources to learn 18O-isotope-based CUE assays with an expert colleague at the University of New Hampshire. Opportunities for networking and collaboration are expected to lead to interdisciplinary projects that have real-world applications and involve non-profit land management organizations. Ultimately, outcomes will include new restoration strategies that maximize belowground restoration for carbon storage, while remaining tractable and cost-effective.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
