47-55 percent of the terrestrial carbon is transported and processed in rivers. Terrestrial carbon is generally considered to be resistant to aquatic microbial metabolism. However, recent evidence suggests that at soil-aquatic interfaces terrestrial carbon can be respired by aquatic microorganism at the cost of low carbon use efficiency thus contributing to CO2-fluxes to the atmosphere. This project aims to define microbial controls on terrestrial carbon and nutrient turn-over at terrestrial to aquatic interfaces by using state of the art sequencing and metabolomics techniques.
Proposer: Neslihan Tas, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Proposal: Deciphering microbial functions at soil-aquatic interfaces: Fate of carbon exports into high-elevation streams