Climate and environmental change impacts on the assembly, diversity, and functions of soil and other microbial communities

The Earth is experiencing unprecedented climatic and environmental changes which are impacting the natural and managed ecosystems around us. In Southern California, the changes in precipitation frequency and intensity, due to overall shifts in climate, are having far-reaching and unknown impacts. In addition, the high rates of agriculture and industry in this region are causing increased N deposition, with unknown impacts alone and in combination with climatic changes. This project experimentally investigates the impacts of these drivers on soil microbial communities, and their ecosystem functions, in dryland locations. This project also evaluates several potential vectors of soil microbial dispersal to new locations, which are all hypothesized to contribute some amount to soil microbial community assembly. The vectors to be investigated are wind and invasive plants and animals. My research program includes varied investigations, however all of them make good use of the state of the art technology to sequence microbial communities.The impact of this project on natural resources and agriculture will be to expand our understanding of soil microbial dispersal, transport, and community assembly. This project will help us to comprehend the role of microorganisms in ecosystem functions. Further, this project will increase understanding of the impacts of climate and environmental changes, such as increased prevalence of drought and N deposition on natural and agricultural areas, on soil microbial communities and their functions. Finally, this project will evaluate the roles of various vectors of dispersal on the composition of microbial communities in soils and associated with plants and animals. This investigation may help to identify potential biocontrol for invasive plants and animals may prevent the loss of native ecosystems.