Three new in press papers on microbial and geochemical characterization of the peatland ecosystem at the future SPRUCE site

Here are links to three new accepted papers that are just out online.  These papers represent some of the first of our hopefully continued fruitful efforts to characterize the peatland SPRUCE site characteristics prior to the onset of warming treatments next year.  These come from core support of the SPRUCE project itself as well as an additional DOE funded effort led by my long-time collaborator Joel Kostka at Georgia Tech and of course the hard work of several fabulous students and postdocs!

Lin et al. Microbial metabolic potential for carbon degradation and nutrient acquisition (N, P) in an ombrotrophic peatland. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, In Press. http://aem.asm.org/content/early/2014/03/24/AEM.00206-14.abstract

Lin et al. Microbial community stratification linked to the utilization of carbohydrates and phosphorus limitation in a boreal peatland at Marcell Experimental Forest. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, In Press. http://aem.asm.org/content/early/2014/03/24/AEM.00205-14.abstract

Tfaily et al. Organic Matter Transformation in the Peat Column at Marcell Experimental Forest: Humification and Vertical Stratification. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, In Press. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2013JG002492/abstract

It has been some time since I posted on the blog and I hope this will be one of several upcoming updates on projects, papers and personnel!

New Populus deltoides microbiome paper accepted in PLoS One!

Been waiting on a decision on a long developing story for the past few weeks. We first began watershed level sampling of the roots and rhizosphere of Populus deltoides in the Spring of 2010. Took us until about the Spring of 2011 to get all the microbial sequence data collected. About another 6 months for Migun Shakya’s data analyses to come to near fruition. Then several more months of drafting, redrafting, and refining his paper (I think we made it V7 before submission). The accepted version is linked here on PLoS ONE.

Apparently the work paid off! Just got an acceptance letter from PLoS One unlike any I have ever seen. Two reviews, nothing but praise. Literally, NO changes from either peer reviewer. The editor requested one. We apparently forgot to reference Supplemental Figure 5 in the text. After telling the news to a colleague down the hall, he told me something like “You might as well retire now. Not going to get much better than that!”

Back when we were doing the sampling, we came up with a nickname for the team. Deltoides Force! Picture Chuck Norris in a classic action pose, but then instead substitute ecologists wielding shovels, tree ring corers, and archeological trowels to excavate root systems.

Anyway, Deltoides force, congratulations! May we reunite for a sequel performance soon!

The spring 2010 sampling team shortly after finishing our last sampling/tree of the trip along the Yadkin River in North Carolina (We are not normally this clean in the field, some of us changed for the trip home!)

Andrii fighting with the tree ring corer.

Greg, Jessie and Cassandra in the process of excavating a tree root.

Job Posting for Hobbie Lab at UNH on our collaborative SPRUCE project.

Ph.D. opportunities in terrestrial ecosystem ecology and mycorrhizal fungi at the University of New Hampshire (this posting is for a collaborator on our SPRUCE project)

The Hobbie lab invites applications to the UNH Natural Resources and Earth Systems Science (NRESS) Ph.D. Program. We welcome inquiries from motivated students interested in how the interactions of organisms with their environment influence carbon and nutrient cycling. Our lab is an interactive group with interests in ecosystem modeling, remote sensing, the application of stable isotopes in ecology, and belowground processes, particularly mycorrhizal fungi. We are currently looking for students on two projects, one to work on a new global change experiment in northern Minnesota, another to work on biogeochemical consequences of shrub expansion in the Arctic. Incoming Ph.D. students are encouraged to develop their own research projects in these areas. For more information on research projects in the lab, please visit our website http://www.isotope.unh.edu/research.shtml>.

Interested applicants should email Dr. Hobbie <erik.hobbie@unh.edu>. The deadline for domestic and international applications is Jan. 15, 2012. In your email, include “Ph.D. opportunity” in the subject line, and a brief statement of your current or future research interests (please be as specific as you can), and a curriculum vitae. For information on applying to the NRESS Program, visit < http://www.unh.edu/nressphd/>.

New content posted

Links to upcoming meetings featuring Schadt Lab researchers are now posted to the ‘Meetings Calander’ page. I am particularly looking forward to attending the Fungal Genetics Meeting in Asilomar this year for the first time, where I am lucky enough to be organizing a session on Ecological Metagenomics with Betsy Arnold of the University of Arizona. I’ve heard from many people I respect greatly that this is a fabulous meeting, and it is surely in a fabulous location!

Also I have included a page titled ‘Projects, Sponsors and Links’. This includes links to some of the major projects we are involved in daily in the Schadt Lab, as well as links to the always important agency sponsors and collaborators. I have only done the easy ones so far (those that large projects that have their own web pages), but hopefully I can add some of the smaller (but no less important!) ones soon.

The ‘Job Postings’ page includes postings for various positions received from collaborators and others I have run across via mailing lists and other sources.

The ‘about’ page also has a new name and a small amount of new content.  It is now the ‘People’ page and I anticipate adding more information about current and past lab members as I gain permission, ambition and time to do so.