Terrestrial Ecology
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R. Michael Miller Senior Ecologist/Group Leader Bldg: 203 Room: E161 9700 South Cass Avenue Phone: (630) 252-3395 or 3390
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Julie D. Jastrow Bldg: 203 Room: E149 |
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Roser Matamala Bldg: 203 Room: E145 |
Terrestrial ecology research includes studies of plant-soil-atmosphere interactions and biogeochemistry at molecular to landscape scales, with specific emphasis on the belowground ecosystem. Laboratory and field studies address terrestrial components of the global carbon cycle; factors controlling the quantity, quality, and spatial distribution of soil organic matter; and the roles of soil microbes, plant roots, and soil organic matter in ecosystem-scale responses to environmental forcing factors. Our current projects focus on (1) quantifying the impact of different Midwestern management practices, climatic conditions, and edaphic factors on air-surface exchange of CO2 and energy, net ecosystem production, and the potential for and rate of ecosystem carbon storage; (2) determining mechanisms that enhance natural carbon sequestration by terrestrial ecosystems; (3) examining how soil organic matter stabilization mechanisms interact with environmental factors such as edaphic properties, vegetation type, and management practices to control the responses of soil carbon stocks to atmospheric CO2 enrichment; (4) investigating the rates of carbon flux from leaf-litter and root turnover sources and its transformation to mineral soil sinks in Eastern hardwood forests; (5) determining the role of belowground mechanisms in controlling plant adaptations to environmental change; and (6) identifying plant and microbial processes that contribute to sustainable low-input (fertilizer) production of biofuel feedstock while enhancing the capture and storage of greenhouse gases by plants and soils. We are also initiating a new scientific focus on soil carbon in permafrost regions, with the goals of creating new databases and geospatial models of permafrost region soil carbon stocks and building a knowledgebase of biogeochemical indicators to enable predictions of the potential decomposability of these soil carbon stocks. Our research is funded primarily by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Biological and Environmental Research, Climate and Environmental Sciences Division.
> Programs
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Carbon Sequestration Potential in Midwest Agricultural Land Compared to Restored Grasslands Carbon dioxide fluxes and stocks in terrestrial ecosystems are key measurements needed to constrain quantification of regional carbon sinks and sources and the mechanisms controlling them. This information is required to produce a sound carbon budget for North America. read more Project Webpage |
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Soil Carbon Responses to Elevated Atmospheric CO2 Determining the potential carbon sink strength of terrestrial ecosystems requires better understanding and improved quantitation of processes involved in soil carbon storage and turnover. Relatively labile carbon can be physically protected from decomposition by incorporation into soil aggregates or chemically protected by association with soil minerals. read more |
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Characterizing Organic Carbon Flux from Litter Sources to Mineral-Soil Sinks The Enriched Background Isotope Study (EBIS) provides data on carbon flux from litter sources to mineral soil sinks in United States eastern hardwood forests; these data are needed for testing process-level hypotheses and judging the efficacy of soil carbon cycling models. read more |
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The Interactive Effects of Elevated CO2 and Ozone on the Mycorrhizal Symbiosis Predicting effects of environmental change on whole plants, especially changes in multiple factors, will require improved understanding of how mycorrhizae respond to alterations in host partitioning of assimilated carbon and soil nutrients and how fungal responses feed back to the host plant. read more |
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Sustainable Bioenergy Crop Production Research Facility The overall goal of our field research facility is to identify plant and microbial processes that will be key contributors to sustainable low-input (fertilizer) bioenergy feedstock production and, at the same time, will enhance the capture and storage of greenhouse gases by plants and soils (biological carbon sequestration). read more |
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Soil Carbon in Permafrost Regions (SCiPR) The perennially frozen soils of the northern circumpolar permafrost regions harbor one of Earth’s largest carbon reserves. Climate change and other factors causing permafrost to thaw could lead to large releases of CO2 and CH4 from circumpolar soils via enhanced microbial activity. Increasing transfers of these greenhouse gases to the atmosphere are likely to cause a positive feedback that would accelerate the rate of climatic change. But the potential magnitude of this response is unknown, and confidence in current regional and global model predictions is limited by both inadequate process representations and insufficient data on permafrost-region carbon stocks, which are needed to validate the models. read more |