This National Science Foundation (NSF) Project Grant under the Biological Sciences program, awarded to the San Diego State University Research Foundation, will support research to investigate how microbial social interactions within soil communities influence ecosystem-level carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycling. The $982,308 award, effective April 1, 2024 through March 31, 2027, will combine molecular and computational approaches to study bacterial communication and division of labor...
The National Science Foundation awarded a $138,000 Project Grant to support research determining the mechanism that drive assembly in belowground microbial decomposer systems from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2023. The grant was awarded under the Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074), which aims to promote progress in the biological sciences and strengthen the nation's scientific enterprise through increasing knowledge and enhancing understanding of major problems confronting the nation. Most of...
This $439,396 National Science Foundation Project Grant under the Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) supports research at Duke University from September 2022 to August 2025 to develop a model microbial consortium for interrogating organic matter decomposition and carbon cycling in coastal systems under changing environmental conditions. Researchers will integrate field, laboratory, and modeling work to examine the functional roles and responses to temperature variation of diverse...
This Project Grant award of $533,020 from the National Science Foundation's Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) supports a collaborative research project between ecologists and microbiologists at Florida Atlantic University (FAU) to study the role of soil microbes in improving the resistance of drylands to climate change-driven soil degradation. The key research activities include: 1) characterizing the heat and drought resistance of common dryland microbe species, 2) discovering how to...
This $164,793 Project Grant awarded by the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Integrative Activities (IA) program aims to discover microbial solutions that promote soil health in drylands under climate change. The research activities focus on characterizing the climate resistance of common dryland microbe species, assembling microbial communities that maximize resistance to heat and drought, and field-testing the application of climate-ready microbial assemblages to reverse long-term soil...
This National Science Foundation Project Grant of $597,248 supports research into applying novel approaches to link microbial growth efficiency, function, and energy transfer in the ocean. Funded under the Geosciences program (CFDA 47.050), the award will further understanding of the integrated Earth system through basic research in ocean sciences. Specifically, the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science will conduct research from September 2023 to August 2026 to...
This $178,508 federal Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Integrative Activities (IA) program supports collaborative research to investigate how soil microbes in dryland ecosystems can maximize resistance to climate change impacts. The project, titled "ORCC: From Organisms to Ecosystems: Can Soil Microbes Maximize Dryland Resistance to Climate Disruption?", aims to characterize the climate resistance of common dryland microbe species, discover how to assemble...
This $270,000 federal Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) supports a postdoctoral fellowship to characterize microeukaryotic responses to terrestrial influence in marine sediments. The fellow will analyze microbial communities in sediment cores collected along a transect from the Puerto Rico continental shelf to the deep Atlantic Ocean. This research aims to provide critical data to identify seafloor zones most likely to...
This $525,181 Project Grant from the National Science Foundation's Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) will fund research at North Carolina State University to explore harnessing soil microbes to improve soil supporting civil infrastructure. The university will identify active microbial communities in relevant soil microcosms and manipulate microcosm geochemistry to induce byproducts like mineral precipitation or gas generation. An integrated meta-omics approach will characterize microbial...
This Project Grant from the National Science Foundation Division of Ocean Sciences, under the Geosciences federal grant program (CFDA 47.050), provides $279,809 to the University of California Irvine to quantify the relationship between environmental conditions and the particulate carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus ratios of marine microorganisms. Over the three-year period from February 2022 to January 2025, the researchers will characterize the distribution of biomass stoichiometric traits for...
This two-year, $180,000 Project Grant from the National Science Foundation's Geosciences program (CFDA 47.050) will fund research into the role of subsurface microbial communities in biogeochemical cycling and carbon storage across spatial and temporal scales in the United States and Puerto Rico. Dr. Dawson Fairbanks of the University of California-Riverside will explore how soil microbial diversity and functionality respond to changing environmental conditions from the micro to continental scale. Using metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, and statistical analyses of soil samples from varying soil types, vegetation, and climate regimes, the investigator aims to identify the drivers of microbial community composition and function below ground. Broader impacts include training students in STEM research, public outreach events, and engaging policymakers on sustainable land management practices. Findings could deepen understanding of global change impacts on soil health and carbon sequestration.