Project Grant 2208657

Arizona State University was awarded $479,978 under a Project Grant from the National Science Foundation Division of Environmental Biology to conduct collaborative research understanding the biophysical drivers of the methane source-sink transition in northern forests. The research will be conducted at the Howland Research Forest in Maine, where researchers have been measuring methane fluctuations since 2012 and have found the forest usually serves as a methane sink but occasionally becomes a source under extremely wet conditions.

The project aims to identify the conditions and mechanisms driving this sink-to-source transition through integrating field observations, laboratory analyses, and ecosystem process modeling. Researchers will examine how forest soil microbial communities respond to climate warming and identify the specific roles of methanogens and methanotrophs in regulating methane fluxes. The funding will also support training of undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral researchers while engaging local high schools through outreach activities including science talks, videos and a research forest open house. This work aligns with the goals of the Biological Sciences program within the National Science Foundation to increase scientific knowledge of major problems confronting the nation.