[Enviro-lunch] Enviro-Lunch (3/14): Dr. Darian Smercina on soil microbial nitrogen fixation

[Kyungjin Min]

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Hello all,



Next Monday (3/14) Dr. Darian Smercina from Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory will present her research about soil microbes and nitrogen
cycling. Please join us between 12-1 pm (pacific) via zoom.



https://ucmerced.zoom.us/j/175736103





*Title:* Micro to Macro: Soil Microbial Communities and Biogeochemistry

*Abstract*: Soil microorganisms are the engines that drive global
biogeochemical cycles, impacting the flow of nutrients to all life on Earth
and many ecosystem services we depend on, such as crop production and
carbon sequestration. Yet, while ecosystem processes are measured at
macroscales, the underlying microbial functions occur at micro-scales over
a million times smaller than that of their impact. Linking soil
microorganisms and microbial scale processes to macroscale ecosystem
function remains one of the greatest challenges in soil microbial ecology,
necessitating multi-scale approaches to link soil microorganisms and
ecosystem processes. My work has used a multi-scale approach to study the
controls on and contributions from free-living nitrogen fixation (FLNF).
FLNF, biological nitrogen fixation carried out by heterotrophic bacteria in
soils, is an important ecosystem process and terrestrial N source.
Globally, FLNF is estimated to contribute approximately one-third of all
biological fixed N each year. However, the controls on this process and the
mechanisms of resulting nitrogen contributions remain poorly understood. I
will present on a series of studies examining these controls and
contributions from FLNF across scales from macroscale field studies to
microscale microbial studies.



*Bio*:
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I am a Linus Pauling Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow at Pacific Northwest
National Lab in the Biological Sciences division. I received my PhD in crop
and soil sciences from Michigan State University in 2020 following
completion of my BS in Biology from the University of Toledo.





Sincerely,

co-host: KJ Min & Manisha Dolui

Faculty coordinator: Asmeret Asefaw Berhe

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Spring 2022 Enviro-Lunch Schedule

*date*

*speaker*

*title*

*1/31*

Mariela Garcia Arrendondo
@ Umass-Amherst

Root-mediated weathering

*2/7*

Michael Philben
@ Hope College

Rethinking carbon and nitrogen isotope fractionation during soil organic
matter decomposition

*2/14*

Alyssa Griffin*
@ UC Davis

The role of coastal marine sediments in carbon cycling from local to global
scales

*2/21*

Presidents’ day



*2/28*

Katherine Heckman
@ USDA

Density fractionation and soil carbon stabilization

*3/7*

Bhavna Arora
@ LBNL

Reactive transport modeling

*3/14*

Darian Smercina
@ PNNL

Free N fixing under switchgrass (Linking microbial scale processes to
ecosystem function)

*3/21*

spring break



*3/28*

Meng Zhao
@ Stanford U

Plant-water relationship (evapotranspiration) modeling

*4/4*

Hannah Naughton
@ LBNL

Root vs. topographic generation of redox anomalies on a subalpine hillslope
and floodplain

*4/11*

Michael Rowley
@ LBNL

Ca-mediated soil organic carbon stabilization

*4/18*

Weiyu Li*
@ Stanford U

Data-driven hydraulic modeling

*4/25*

Daniel Zuleta

@ Smithsonian Institute

Tree mortality in tropical ecosystems

*5/2*

Genevieve Noyce
@ Smithsonian Institute

Greenhouse gas emissions from wetland with climate change
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