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Join NREL for a presentation on early findings on the potential for floating PV development in the U.S, covering feasible regions in the U.S., sensitivity analysis of factors affecting LCOE, operational and economic co-benefits, climate factors and early data on system performance and reliability.
Abstract Almost all current climate models simplify the ocean surface albedo (OSA) by assuming the reflected solar energy without the ocean interior contribution. In this study, an improved ocean surface albedo scheme is incorporated into the Community Earth System Model version 2 (CESM2) to assess the sensitivity of Arctic surface temperature to including ocean interior reflectance to the OSA. Fully coupled CESM2 simulations with and without ocean interior reflectance are subsequently performed, we focus on the analysis of Arctic surface temperature responses. Incorporating ocean interior reflectance increases absorbed solar radiation and warms the ocean, enhancing seasonal heat storage and release across the Arctic Ocean, and increasing sea ice reduction and positive climate feedbacks that elevates Arctic surface temperature. Seasonal variations in air‐surface temperature differences induce changes in turbulent heat flux patterns, concurrently modifying dynamic advection and moisture processes that affect boundary layer humidity and low clouds, especially in winter. Based on partitioning physical processes in the thermodynamic energy equation, surface air warming is induced primarily through positive heating anomalies of vertical advection, latent heat release, and longwave radiative forcing. Through an examination of the surface energy budget, skin temperature warming is driven predominantly by increased downward longwave radiation, positive surface albedo feedback in summer, and increased conductive heat transport from the ocean particularly in winter. Significant effects of ocean interior reflectance on the Arctic Ocean, including sea surface warming and sea ice reduction, justify the importance of ocean interior reflectance in climate models for better understanding of ongoing Arctic climate changes.
Lindzen and Farrell (LF) in 1977 argued that the eddy diffusion is not a good parameterization of meridional heat flux in tropical latitudes and that model sensitivity could be altered drastically if a more 'realistic' (nondiffusive) parameterization of tropical transports were included. LF suggested modifications to the heat transport term in Budyko's (1969) zonal energy-balance climate model. The authors do not believe that the modifications suggested by LF are necessarily more realistic than the original formulation, and thus it is not believed that the quantitative results offered by LF can be demonstrated as more realistic than those they replace. Reasons for the belief are discussed.
Climate extremes have remarkable impacts on ecosystems and are expected to increase with future global warming. However, only few studies have focused on the ecological extreme events and their drivers in China. In this study, we carried out an analysis of negative extreme events in gross primary productivity (GPP) in China and the sub-regions during 1982–2015, using monthly GPP simulated by 12 process-based models (TRENDYv6) and an observation-based model (Yao-GPP). Extremes were defined as the negative 5th percentile of GPP anomalies, which were further merged into individual extreme events using a three-dimensional contiguous algorithm. Spatio-temporal patterns of negative GPP anomalies were analyzed by taking the 1000 largest extreme events into consideration. Results showed that the effects of extreme events decreased annual GPP by 2.8% (i.e. 208 TgC/year) in TRENDY models and 2.3% (i.e. 151 TgC/year) in Yao-GPP. Hotspots of extreme GPP deficits were mainly observed in North China (−53 gC/sq.m year) in TRENDY models and Northeast China (−42 gC/sq.m year) in Yao-GPP. For China as a whole, attribution analyses suggested that extreme low precipitation was associated with 40%–50% of extreme negative GPP events. Most events in northern and western China could be explained by meteorological droughts (i.e. low precipitation) while GPP extreme events in southern China were more associated with temperature extremes, in particular with cold spells. GPP was revealed to be much more sensitive to heat/drought than to cold/wet extreme events. Combined with projected changes in climate extremes in China, GPP negative anomalies caused by drought events in northern China and by temperature extremes in southern China might be more prominent in the future.
Just as humans rely on a healthy gut microbiome for resilience to illness, plants rely on a healthy root microbiome for resilience to environmental abiotic stress (heat, drought). To achieve a healthy root microbiome, plants release carbon (C)-rich compounds as root exudates to stimulate microbial activity and increase local nutrient mineralization. However, the enhanced performance comes at a cost: up to 44% of a plant’s C can be lost to root exudates, diverting C from plant growth and respiration. Critical knowledge gaps include how the ‘C cost’ is managed and how root exudates alter the microbiome under different environmental conditions. In addition, historical climate conditions, particularly mean annual precipitation, is known to shape local soil microbiomes and alter their sensitivity to drought. Therefore, studies that better characterize the plant-microbe responses to environmental stress will aid in efforts to harness the microbiome to improve crop resilience. However, current knowledge gaps make it challenging to engineer beneficial plant-microbe interactions to improve plant productivity in agricultural systems and to predict how increased climate variability will alter terrestrial C fluxes and climate feedbacks. To fill this knowledge gap our research group at Montana State University – Bozeman is currently studying blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis), a prairie grass native across the Northern Great Plains, as a model for drought tolerance. Our goal is to investigate the above- and belowground responses of blue grama to drought and heat stress to improve our understanding of stress-induced carbon allocation and plant-microbe interactions. Most recently, we investigated the influence of climate history on the blue grama drought response. We collected soil from three blue grama-dominated sites (those proposed to sample here) across a 150 mm mean annual precipitation gradient in SW Montana, USA, to use as inoculum for a greenhouse drought experiment. Preliminary results indicate that soil climate history has a strong influence on the blue grama physiological response to drought as well as on the chemical composition of root exudates and rhizosphere microbiome composition. Metabarcoding data from this experiment is scheduled to be submitted to public databases within the next year. Having in-depth analyses of the soil biogeochemistry and metagenomic composition through the MONet project at each of the field sites associated with this experiment will allow us to link underlying ecological processes with observed patterns of plant growth and productivity at each site. In addition, we plan to utilize the MONet database for future meta-analyses to compare the genomic and biogeochemical signatures of our field sites to others across a wider precipitation gradient throughout the native range of blue grama. This will further provide critical insights into the mechanisms that drive ecosystem functioning and resilience to drought stress.
Just as humans rely on a healthy gut microbiome for resilience to illness, plants rely on a healthy root microbiome for resilience to environmental abiotic stress (heat, drought). To achieve a healthy root microbiome, plants release carbon (C)-rich compounds as root exudates to stimulate microbial activity and increase local nutrient mineralization. However, the enhanced performance comes at a cost: up to 44% of a plant’s C can be lost to root exudates, diverting C from plant growth and respiration. Critical knowledge gaps include how the ‘C cost’ is managed and how root exudates alter the microbiome under different environmental conditions. In addition, historical climate conditions, particularly mean annual precipitation, is known to shape local soil microbiomes and alter their sensitivity to drought. Therefore, studies that better characterize the plant-microbe responses to environmental stress will aid in efforts to harness the microbiome to improve crop resilience. However, current knowledge gaps make it challenging to engineer beneficial plant-microbe interactions to improve plant productivity in agricultural systems and to predict how increased climate variability will alter terrestrial C fluxes and climate feedbacks. To fill this knowledge gap our research group at Montana State University – Bozeman is currently studying blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis), a prairie grass native across the Northern Great Plains, as a model for drought tolerance. Our goal is to investigate the above- and belowground responses of blue grama to drought and heat stress to improve our understanding of stress-induced carbon allocation and plant-microbe interactions. Most recently, we investigated the influence of climate history on the blue grama drought response. We collected soil from three blue grama-dominated sites (those proposed to sample here) across a 150 mm mean annual precipitation gradient in SW Montana, USA, to use as inoculum for a greenhouse drought experiment. Preliminary results indicate that soil climate history has a strong influence on the blue grama physiological response to drought as well as on the chemical composition of root exudates and rhizosphere microbiome composition. Metabarcoding data from this experiment is scheduled to be submitted to public databases within the next year. Having in-depth analyses of the soil biogeochemistry and metagenomic composition through the MONet project at each of the field sites associated with this experiment will allow us to link underlying ecological processes with observed patterns of plant growth and productivity at each site. In addition, we plan to utilize the MONet database for future meta-analyses to compare the genomic and biogeochemical signatures of our field sites to others across a wider precipitation gradient throughout the native range of blue grama. This will further provide critical insights into the mechanisms that drive ecosystem functioning and resilience to drought stress.
Just as humans rely on a healthy gut microbiome for resilience to illness, plants rely on a healthy root microbiome for resilience to environmental abiotic stress (heat, drought). To achieve a healthy root microbiome, plants release carbon (C)-rich compounds as root exudates to stimulate microbial activity and increase local nutrient mineralization. However, the enhanced performance comes at a cost: up to 44% of a plant’s C can be lost to root exudates, diverting C from plant growth and respiration. Critical knowledge gaps include how the ‘C cost’ is managed and how root exudates alter the microbiome under different environmental conditions. In addition, historical climate conditions, particularly mean annual precipitation, is known to shape local soil microbiomes and alter their sensitivity to drought. Therefore, studies that better characterize the plant-microbe responses to environmental stress will aid in efforts to harness the microbiome to improve crop resilience. However, current knowledge gaps make it challenging to engineer beneficial plant-microbe interactions to improve plant productivity in agricultural systems and to predict how increased climate variability will alter terrestrial C fluxes and climate feedbacks. To fill this knowledge gap our research group at Montana State University – Bozeman is currently studying blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis), a prairie grass native across the Northern Great Plains, as a model for drought tolerance. Our goal is to investigate the above- and belowground responses of blue grama to drought and heat stress to improve our understanding of stress-induced carbon allocation and plant-microbe interactions. Most recently, we investigated the influence of climate history on the blue grama drought response. We collected soil from three blue grama-dominated sites (those proposed to sample here) across a 150 mm mean annual precipitation gradient in SW Montana, USA, to use as inoculum for a greenhouse drought experiment. Preliminary results indicate that soil climate history has a strong influence on the blue grama physiological response to drought as well as on the chemical composition of root exudates and rhizosphere microbiome composition. Metabarcoding data from this experiment is scheduled to be submitted to public databases within the next year. Having in-depth analyses of the soil biogeochemistry and metagenomic composition through the MONet project at each of the field sites associated with this experiment will allow us to link underlying ecological processes with observed patterns of plant growth and productivity at each site. In addition, we plan to utilize the MONet database for future meta-analyses to compare the genomic and biogeochemical signatures of our field sites to others across a wider precipitation gradient throughout the native range of blue grama. This will further provide critical insights into the mechanisms that drive ecosystem functioning and resilience to drought stress.
Just as humans rely on a healthy gut microbiome for resilience to illness, plants rely on a healthy root microbiome for resilience to environmental abiotic stress (heat, drought). To achieve a healthy root microbiome, plants release carbon (C)-rich compounds as root exudates to stimulate microbial activity and increase local nutrient mineralization. However, the enhanced performance comes at a cost: up to 44% of a plant’s C can be lost to root exudates, diverting C from plant growth and respiration. Critical knowledge gaps include how the ‘C cost’ is managed and how root exudates alter the microbiome under different environmental conditions. In addition, historical climate conditions, particularly mean annual precipitation, is known to shape local soil microbiomes and alter their sensitivity to drought. Therefore, studies that better characterize the plant-microbe responses to environmental stress will aid in efforts to harness the microbiome to improve crop resilience. However, current knowledge gaps make it challenging to engineer beneficial plant-microbe interactions to improve plant productivity in agricultural systems and to predict how increased climate variability will alter terrestrial C fluxes and climate feedbacks. To fill this knowledge gap our research group at Montana State University – Bozeman is currently studying blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis), a prairie grass native across the Northern Great Plains, as a model for drought tolerance. Our goal is to investigate the above- and belowground responses of blue grama to drought and heat stress to improve our understanding of stress-induced carbon allocation and plant-microbe interactions. Most recently, we investigated the influence of climate history on the blue grama drought response. We collected soil from three blue grama-dominated sites (those proposed to sample here) across a 150 mm mean annual precipitation gradient in SW Montana, USA, to use as inoculum for a greenhouse drought experiment. Preliminary results indicate that soil climate history has a strong influence on the blue grama physiological response to drought as well as on the chemical composition of root exudates and rhizosphere microbiome composition. Metabarcoding data from this experiment is scheduled to be submitted to public databases within the next year. Having in-depth analyses of the soil biogeochemistry and metagenomic composition through the MONet project at each of the field sites associated with this experiment will allow us to link underlying ecological processes with observed patterns of plant growth and productivity at each site. In addition, we plan to utilize the MONet database for future meta-analyses to compare the genomic and biogeochemical signatures of our field sites to others across a wider precipitation gradient throughout the native range of blue grama. This will further provide critical insights into the mechanisms that drive ecosystem functioning and resilience to drought stress.
Just as humans rely on a healthy gut microbiome for resilience to illness, plants rely on a healthy root microbiome for resilience to environmental abiotic stress (heat, drought). To achieve a healthy root microbiome, plants release carbon (C)-rich compounds as root exudates to stimulate microbial activity and increase local nutrient mineralization. However, the enhanced performance comes at a cost: up to 44% of a plant’s C can be lost to root exudates, diverting C from plant growth and respiration. Critical knowledge gaps include how the ‘C cost’ is managed and how root exudates alter the microbiome under different environmental conditions. In addition, historical climate conditions, particularly mean annual precipitation, is known to shape local soil microbiomes and alter their sensitivity to drought. Therefore, studies that better characterize the plant-microbe responses to environmental stress will aid in efforts to harness the microbiome to improve crop resilience. However, current knowledge gaps make it challenging to engineer beneficial plant-microbe interactions to improve plant productivity in agricultural systems and to predict how increased climate variability will alter terrestrial C fluxes and climate feedbacks. To fill this knowledge gap our research group at Montana State University – Bozeman is currently studying blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis), a prairie grass native across the Northern Great Plains, as a model for drought tolerance. Our goal is to investigate the above- and belowground responses of blue grama to drought and heat stress to improve our understanding of stress-induced carbon allocation and plant-microbe interactions. Most recently, we investigated the influence of climate history on the blue grama drought response. We collected soil from three blue grama-dominated sites (those proposed to sample here) across a 150 mm mean annual precipitation gradient in SW Montana, USA, to use as inoculum for a greenhouse drought experiment. Preliminary results indicate that soil climate history has a strong influence on the blue grama physiological response to drought as well as on the chemical composition of root exudates and rhizosphere microbiome composition. Metabarcoding data from this experiment is scheduled to be submitted to public databases within the next year. Having in-depth analyses of the soil biogeochemistry and metagenomic composition through the MONet project at each of the field sites associated with this experiment will allow us to link underlying ecological processes with observed patterns of plant growth and productivity at each site. In addition, we plan to utilize the MONet database for future meta-analyses to compare the genomic and biogeochemical signatures of our field sites to others across a wider precipitation gradient throughout the native range of blue grama. This will further provide critical insights into the mechanisms that drive ecosystem functioning and resilience to drought stress.
Just as humans rely on a healthy gut microbiome for resilience to illness, plants rely on a healthy root microbiome for resilience to environmental abiotic stress (heat, drought). To achieve a healthy root microbiome, plants release carbon (C)-rich compounds as root exudates to stimulate microbial activity and increase local nutrient mineralization. However, the enhanced performance comes at a cost: up to 44% of a plant’s C can be lost to root exudates, diverting C from plant growth and respiration. Critical knowledge gaps include how the ‘C cost’ is managed and how root exudates alter the microbiome under different environmental conditions. In addition, historical climate conditions, particularly mean annual precipitation, is known to shape local soil microbiomes and alter their sensitivity to drought. Therefore, studies that better characterize the plant-microbe responses to environmental stress will aid in efforts to harness the microbiome to improve crop resilience. However, current knowledge gaps make it challenging to engineer beneficial plant-microbe interactions to improve plant productivity in agricultural systems and to predict how increased climate variability will alter terrestrial C fluxes and climate feedbacks. To fill this knowledge gap our research group at Montana State University – Bozeman is currently studying blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis), a prairie grass native across the Northern Great Plains, as a model for drought tolerance. Our goal is to investigate the above- and belowground responses of blue grama to drought and heat stress to improve our understanding of stress-induced carbon allocation and plant-microbe interactions. Most recently, we investigated the influence of climate history on the blue grama drought response. We collected soil from three blue grama-dominated sites (those proposed to sample here) across a 150 mm mean annual precipitation gradient in SW Montana, USA, to use as inoculum for a greenhouse drought experiment. Preliminary results indicate that soil climate history has a strong influence on the blue grama physiological response to drought as well as on the chemical composition of root exudates and rhizosphere microbiome composition. Metabarcoding data from this experiment is scheduled to be submitted to public databases within the next year. Having in-depth analyses of the soil biogeochemistry and metagenomic composition through the MONet project at each of the field sites associated with this experiment will allow us to link underlying ecological processes with observed patterns of plant growth and productivity at each site. In addition, we plan to utilize the MONet database for future meta-analyses to compare the genomic and biogeochemical signatures of our field sites to others across a wider precipitation gradient throughout the native range of blue grama. This will further provide critical insights into the mechanisms that drive ecosystem functioning and resilience to drought stress.
Just as humans rely on a healthy gut microbiome for resilience to illness, plants rely on a healthy root microbiome for resilience to environmental abiotic stress (heat, drought). To achieve a healthy root microbiome, plants release carbon (C)-rich compounds as root exudates to stimulate microbial activity and increase local nutrient mineralization. However, the enhanced performance comes at a cost: up to 44% of a plant’s C can be lost to root exudates, diverting C from plant growth and respiration. Critical knowledge gaps include how the ‘C cost’ is managed and how root exudates alter the microbiome under different environmental conditions. In addition, historical climate conditions, particularly mean annual precipitation, is known to shape local soil microbiomes and alter their sensitivity to drought. Therefore, studies that better characterize the plant-microbe responses to environmental stress will aid in efforts to harness the microbiome to improve crop resilience. However, current knowledge gaps make it challenging to engineer beneficial plant-microbe interactions to improve plant productivity in agricultural systems and to predict how increased climate variability will alter terrestrial C fluxes and climate feedbacks. To fill this knowledge gap our research group at Montana State University – Bozeman is currently studying blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis), a prairie grass native across the Northern Great Plains, as a model for drought tolerance. Our goal is to investigate the above- and belowground responses of blue grama to drought and heat stress to improve our understanding of stress-induced carbon allocation and plant-microbe interactions. Most recently, we investigated the influence of climate history on the blue grama drought response. We collected soil from three blue grama-dominated sites (those proposed to sample here) across a 150 mm mean annual precipitation gradient in SW Montana, USA, to use as inoculum for a greenhouse drought experiment. Preliminary results indicate that soil climate history has a strong influence on the blue grama physiological response to drought as well as on the chemical composition of root exudates and rhizosphere microbiome composition. Metabarcoding data from this experiment is scheduled to be submitted to public databases within the next year. Having in-depth analyses of the soil biogeochemistry and metagenomic composition through the MONet project at each of the field sites associated with this experiment will allow us to link underlying ecological processes with observed patterns of plant growth and productivity at each site. In addition, we plan to utilize the MONet database for future meta-analyses to compare the genomic and biogeochemical signatures of our field sites to others across a wider precipitation gradient throughout the native range of blue grama. This will further provide critical insights into the mechanisms that drive ecosystem functioning and resilience to drought stress.
Just as humans rely on a healthy gut microbiome for resilience to illness, plants rely on a healthy root microbiome for resilience to environmental abiotic stress (heat, drought). To achieve a healthy root microbiome, plants release carbon (C)-rich compounds as root exudates to stimulate microbial activity and increase local nutrient mineralization. However, the enhanced performance comes at a cost: up to 44% of a plant’s C can be lost to root exudates, diverting C from plant growth and respiration. Critical knowledge gaps include how the ‘C cost’ is managed and how root exudates alter the microbiome under different environmental conditions. In addition, historical climate conditions, particularly mean annual precipitation, is known to shape local soil microbiomes and alter their sensitivity to drought. Therefore, studies that better characterize the plant-microbe responses to environmental stress will aid in efforts to harness the microbiome to improve crop resilience. However, current knowledge gaps make it challenging to engineer beneficial plant-microbe interactions to improve plant productivity in agricultural systems and to predict how increased climate variability will alter terrestrial C fluxes and climate feedbacks. To fill this knowledge gap our research group at Montana State University – Bozeman is currently studying blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis), a prairie grass native across the Northern Great Plains, as a model for drought tolerance. Our goal is to investigate the above- and belowground responses of blue grama to drought and heat stress to improve our understanding of stress-induced carbon allocation and plant-microbe interactions. Most recently, we investigated the influence of climate history on the blue grama drought response. We collected soil from three blue grama-dominated sites (those proposed to sample here) across a 150 mm mean annual precipitation gradient in SW Montana, USA, to use as inoculum for a greenhouse drought experiment. Preliminary results indicate that soil climate history has a strong influence on the blue grama physiological response to drought as well as on the chemical composition of root exudates and rhizosphere microbiome composition. Metabarcoding data from this experiment is scheduled to be submitted to public databases within the next year. Having in-depth analyses of the soil biogeochemistry and metagenomic composition through the MONet project at each of the field sites associated with this experiment will allow us to link underlying ecological processes with observed patterns of plant growth and productivity at each site. In addition, we plan to utilize the MONet database for future meta-analyses to compare the genomic and biogeochemical signatures of our field sites to others across a wider precipitation gradient throughout the native range of blue grama. This will further provide critical insights into the mechanisms that drive ecosystem functioning and resilience to drought stress.
Just as humans rely on a healthy gut microbiome for resilience to illness, plants rely on a healthy root microbiome for resilience to environmental abiotic stress (heat, drought). To achieve a healthy root microbiome, plants release carbon (C)-rich compounds as root exudates to stimulate microbial activity and increase local nutrient mineralization. However, the enhanced performance comes at a cost: up to 44% of a plant’s C can be lost to root exudates, diverting C from plant growth and respiration. Critical knowledge gaps include how the ‘C cost’ is managed and how root exudates alter the microbiome under different environmental conditions. In addition, historical climate conditions, particularly mean annual precipitation, is known to shape local soil microbiomes and alter their sensitivity to drought. Therefore, studies that better characterize the plant-microbe responses to environmental stress will aid in efforts to harness the microbiome to improve crop resilience. However, current knowledge gaps make it challenging to engineer beneficial plant-microbe interactions to improve plant productivity in agricultural systems and to predict how increased climate variability will alter terrestrial C fluxes and climate feedbacks. To fill this knowledge gap our research group at Montana State University – Bozeman is currently studying blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis), a prairie grass native across the Northern Great Plains, as a model for drought tolerance. Our goal is to investigate the above- and belowground responses of blue grama to drought and heat stress to improve our understanding of stress-induced carbon allocation and plant-microbe interactions. Most recently, we investigated the influence of climate history on the blue grama drought response. We collected soil from three blue grama-dominated sites (those proposed to sample here) across a 150 mm mean annual precipitation gradient in SW Montana, USA, to use as inoculum for a greenhouse drought experiment. Preliminary results indicate that soil climate history has a strong influence on the blue grama physiological response to drought as well as on the chemical composition of root exudates and rhizosphere microbiome composition. Metabarcoding data from this experiment is scheduled to be submitted to public databases within the next year. Having in-depth analyses of the soil biogeochemistry and metagenomic composition through the MONet project at each of the field sites associated with this experiment will allow us to link underlying ecological processes with observed patterns of plant growth and productivity at each site. In addition, we plan to utilize the MONet database for future meta-analyses to compare the genomic and biogeochemical signatures of our field sites to others across a wider precipitation gradient throughout the native range of blue grama. This will further provide critical insights into the mechanisms that drive ecosystem functioning and resilience to drought stress.
Just as humans rely on a healthy gut microbiome for resilience to illness, plants rely on a healthy root microbiome for resilience to environmental abiotic stress (heat, drought). To achieve a healthy root microbiome, plants release carbon (C)-rich compounds as root exudates to stimulate microbial activity and increase local nutrient mineralization. However, the enhanced performance comes at a cost: up to 44% of a plant’s C can be lost to root exudates, diverting C from plant growth and respiration. Critical knowledge gaps include how the ‘C cost’ is managed and how root exudates alter the microbiome under different environmental conditions. In addition, historical climate conditions, particularly mean annual precipitation, is known to shape local soil microbiomes and alter their sensitivity to drought. Therefore, studies that better characterize the plant-microbe responses to environmental stress will aid in efforts to harness the microbiome to improve crop resilience. However, current knowledge gaps make it challenging to engineer beneficial plant-microbe interactions to improve plant productivity in agricultural systems and to predict how increased climate variability will alter terrestrial C fluxes and climate feedbacks. To fill this knowledge gap our research group at Montana State University – Bozeman is currently studying blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis), a prairie grass native across the Northern Great Plains, as a model for drought tolerance. Our goal is to investigate the above- and belowground responses of blue grama to drought and heat stress to improve our understanding of stress-induced carbon allocation and plant-microbe interactions. Most recently, we investigated the influence of climate history on the blue grama drought response. We collected soil from three blue grama-dominated sites (those proposed to sample here) across a 150 mm mean annual precipitation gradient in SW Montana, USA, to use as inoculum for a greenhouse drought experiment. Preliminary results indicate that soil climate history has a strong influence on the blue grama physiological response to drought as well as on the chemical composition of root exudates and rhizosphere microbiome composition. Metabarcoding data from this experiment is scheduled to be submitted to public databases within the next year. Having in-depth analyses of the soil biogeochemistry and metagenomic composition through the MONet project at each of the field sites associated with this experiment will allow us to link underlying ecological processes with observed patterns of plant growth and productivity at each site. In addition, we plan to utilize the MONet database for future meta-analyses to compare the genomic and biogeochemical signatures of our field sites to others across a wider precipitation gradient throughout the native range of blue grama. This will further provide critical insights into the mechanisms that drive ecosystem functioning and resilience to drought stress.
Just as humans rely on a healthy gut microbiome for resilience to illness, plants rely on a healthy root microbiome for resilience to environmental abiotic stress (heat, drought). To achieve a healthy root microbiome, plants release carbon (C)-rich compounds as root exudates to stimulate microbial activity and increase local nutrient mineralization. However, the enhanced performance comes at a cost: up to 44% of a plant’s C can be lost to root exudates, diverting C from plant growth and respiration. Critical knowledge gaps include how the ‘C cost’ is managed and how root exudates alter the microbiome under different environmental conditions. In addition, historical climate conditions, particularly mean annual precipitation, is known to shape local soil microbiomes and alter their sensitivity to drought. Therefore, studies that better characterize the plant-microbe responses to environmental stress will aid in efforts to harness the microbiome to improve crop resilience. However, current knowledge gaps make it challenging to engineer beneficial plant-microbe interactions to improve plant productivity in agricultural systems and to predict how increased climate variability will alter terrestrial C fluxes and climate feedbacks. To fill this knowledge gap our research group at Montana State University – Bozeman is currently studying blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis), a prairie grass native across the Northern Great Plains, as a model for drought tolerance. Our goal is to investigate the above- and belowground responses of blue grama to drought and heat stress to improve our understanding of stress-induced carbon allocation and plant-microbe interactions. Most recently, we investigated the influence of climate history on the blue grama drought response. We collected soil from three blue grama-dominated sites (those proposed to sample here) across a 150 mm mean annual precipitation gradient in SW Montana, USA, to use as inoculum for a greenhouse drought experiment. Preliminary results indicate that soil climate history has a strong influence on the blue grama physiological response to drought as well as on the chemical composition of root exudates and rhizosphere microbiome composition. Metabarcoding data from this experiment is scheduled to be submitted to public databases within the next year. Having in-depth analyses of the soil biogeochemistry and metagenomic composition through the MONet project at each of the field sites associated with this experiment will allow us to link underlying ecological processes with observed patterns of plant growth and productivity at each site. In addition, we plan to utilize the MONet database for future meta-analyses to compare the genomic and biogeochemical signatures of our field sites to others across a wider precipitation gradient throughout the native range of blue grama. This will further provide critical insights into the mechanisms that drive ecosystem functioning and resilience to drought stress.
Just as humans rely on a healthy gut microbiome for resilience to illness, plants rely on a healthy root microbiome for resilience to environmental abiotic stress (heat, drought). To achieve a healthy root microbiome, plants release carbon (C)-rich compounds as root exudates to stimulate microbial activity and increase local nutrient mineralization. However, the enhanced performance comes at a cost: up to 44% of a plant’s C can be lost to root exudates, diverting C from plant growth and respiration. Critical knowledge gaps include how the ‘C cost’ is managed and how root exudates alter the microbiome under different environmental conditions. In addition, historical climate conditions, particularly mean annual precipitation, is known to shape local soil microbiomes and alter their sensitivity to drought. Therefore, studies that better characterize the plant-microbe responses to environmental stress will aid in efforts to harness the microbiome to improve crop resilience. However, current knowledge gaps make it challenging to engineer beneficial plant-microbe interactions to improve plant productivity in agricultural systems and to predict how increased climate variability will alter terrestrial C fluxes and climate feedbacks. To fill this knowledge gap our research group at Montana State University – Bozeman is currently studying blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis), a prairie grass native across the Northern Great Plains, as a model for drought tolerance. Our goal is to investigate the above- and belowground responses of blue grama to drought and heat stress to improve our understanding of stress-induced carbon allocation and plant-microbe interactions. Most recently, we investigated the influence of climate history on the blue grama drought response. We collected soil from three blue grama-dominated sites (those proposed to sample here) across a 150 mm mean annual precipitation gradient in SW Montana, USA, to use as inoculum for a greenhouse drought experiment. Preliminary results indicate that soil climate history has a strong influence on the blue grama physiological response to drought as well as on the chemical composition of root exudates and rhizosphere microbiome composition. Metabarcoding data from this experiment is scheduled to be submitted to public databases within the next year. Having in-depth analyses of the soil biogeochemistry and metagenomic composition through the MONet project at each of the field sites associated with this experiment will allow us to link underlying ecological processes with observed patterns of plant growth and productivity at each site. In addition, we plan to utilize the MONet database for future meta-analyses to compare the genomic and biogeochemical signatures of our field sites to others across a wider precipitation gradient throughout the native range of blue grama. This will further provide critical insights into the mechanisms that drive ecosystem functioning and resilience to drought stress.
Just as humans rely on a healthy gut microbiome for resilience to illness, plants rely on a healthy root microbiome for resilience to environmental abiotic stress (heat, drought). To achieve a healthy root microbiome, plants release carbon (C)-rich compounds as root exudates to stimulate microbial activity and increase local nutrient mineralization. However, the enhanced performance comes at a cost: up to 44% of a plant’s C can be lost to root exudates, diverting C from plant growth and respiration. Critical knowledge gaps include how the ‘C cost’ is managed and how root exudates alter the microbiome under different environmental conditions. In addition, historical climate conditions, particularly mean annual precipitation, is known to shape local soil microbiomes and alter their sensitivity to drought. Therefore, studies that better characterize the plant-microbe responses to environmental stress will aid in efforts to harness the microbiome to improve crop resilience. However, current knowledge gaps make it challenging to engineer beneficial plant-microbe interactions to improve plant productivity in agricultural systems and to predict how increased climate variability will alter terrestrial C fluxes and climate feedbacks. To fill this knowledge gap our research group at Montana State University – Bozeman is currently studying blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis), a prairie grass native across the Northern Great Plains, as a model for drought tolerance. Our goal is to investigate the above- and belowground responses of blue grama to drought and heat stress to improve our understanding of stress-induced carbon allocation and plant-microbe interactions. Most recently, we investigated the influence of climate history on the blue grama drought response. We collected soil from three blue grama-dominated sites (those proposed to sample here) across a 150 mm mean annual precipitation gradient in SW Montana, USA, to use as inoculum for a greenhouse drought experiment. Preliminary results indicate that soil climate history has a strong influence on the blue grama physiological response to drought as well as on the chemical composition of root exudates and rhizosphere microbiome composition. Metabarcoding data from this experiment is scheduled to be submitted to public databases within the next year. Having in-depth analyses of the soil biogeochemistry and metagenomic composition through the MONet project at each of the field sites associated with this experiment will allow us to link underlying ecological processes with observed patterns of plant growth and productivity at each site. In addition, we plan to utilize the MONet database for future meta-analyses to compare the genomic and biogeochemical signatures of our field sites to others across a wider precipitation gradient throughout the native range of blue grama. This will further provide critical insights into the mechanisms that drive ecosystem functioning and resilience to drought stress.
Just as humans rely on a healthy gut microbiome for resilience to illness, plants rely on a healthy root microbiome for resilience to environmental abiotic stress (heat, drought). To achieve a healthy root microbiome, plants release carbon (C)-rich compounds as root exudates to stimulate microbial activity and increase local nutrient mineralization. However, the enhanced performance comes at a cost: up to 44% of a plant’s C can be lost to root exudates, diverting C from plant growth and respiration. Critical knowledge gaps include how the ‘C cost’ is managed and how root exudates alter the microbiome under different environmental conditions. In addition, historical climate conditions, particularly mean annual precipitation, is known to shape local soil microbiomes and alter their sensitivity to drought. Therefore, studies that better characterize the plant-microbe responses to environmental stress will aid in efforts to harness the microbiome to improve crop resilience. However, current knowledge gaps make it challenging to engineer beneficial plant-microbe interactions to improve plant productivity in agricultural systems and to predict how increased climate variability will alter terrestrial C fluxes and climate feedbacks. To fill this knowledge gap our research group at Montana State University – Bozeman is currently studying blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis), a prairie grass native across the Northern Great Plains, as a model for drought tolerance. Our goal is to investigate the above- and belowground responses of blue grama to drought and heat stress to improve our understanding of stress-induced carbon allocation and plant-microbe interactions. Most recently, we investigated the influence of climate history on the blue grama drought response. We collected soil from three blue grama-dominated sites (those proposed to sample here) across a 150 mm mean annual precipitation gradient in SW Montana, USA, to use as inoculum for a greenhouse drought experiment. Preliminary results indicate that soil climate history has a strong influence on the blue grama physiological response to drought as well as on the chemical composition of root exudates and rhizosphere microbiome composition. Metabarcoding data from this experiment is scheduled to be submitted to public databases within the next year. Having in-depth analyses of the soil biogeochemistry and metagenomic composition through the MONet project at each of the field sites associated with this experiment will allow us to link underlying ecological processes with observed patterns of plant growth and productivity at each site. In addition, we plan to utilize the MONet database for future meta-analyses to compare the genomic and biogeochemical signatures of our field sites to others across a wider precipitation gradient throughout the native range of blue grama. This will further provide critical insights into the mechanisms that drive ecosystem functioning and resilience to drought stress.