SPRUCE

Can Microbial Ecology and Mycorrhizal Functioning Inform Climate Change Models?

Co-PI Erik Hobbie, University of New Hampshire

This research aims to validate predictive C cycling models with field experiments that test the relative contribution of fungal and bacterial functional guilds to the decomposition of organic N. Using archived samples from forest Free Air CO2 Enrichment (FACE) experiments, field measurements from the Marcell Experimental Forest (MEF) and the Spruce and Peatland Response Under Climatic and Environmental Change (SPRUCE) experiment, and the Mycorrhizal Status, Carbon and Nutrient cycling (MySCaN) model, we will identify how the microbial regulation of organic nitrogen (N) availability influences forest responses to climate change.