Optode-based chemical imaging of laboratory burned soil reveals millimeter-scale heterogeneous biogeochemical responses.

Soil spatial responses to fire are unclear. Using optical chemical sensing with planar 'optodes', pH and dissolved O concentration were tracked spatially with a resolution of 360 μm per pixel for 72 h after burning soil in the laboratory with a butane torch (∼1300 °C) and then sprinkling water to simulate a postfire moisture event. Imaging data from planar optodes correlated with microbial activity (quantified via RNA transcripts).

Statistical Learning and Uncommon Soil Microbiota Explain Biogeochemical Responses after Wildfire.

Wildfires are a perennial event globally, and the biogeochemical underpinnings of soil responses at relevant spatial and temporal scales are unclear. Soil biogeochemical processes regulate plant growth and nutrient losses that affect water quality, yet the response of soil after variable intensity fire is difficult to explain and predict. To address this issue, we examined two wildfires in Colorado, United States, across the first and second postfire years and leveraged statistical learning (SL) to predict and explain biogeochemical responses.

Spatial and Temporal Constraints on the Composition of Microbial Communities in Subsurface Boreholes of the Edgar Experimental Mine.

The deep biosphere hosts uniquely adapted microorganisms overcoming geochemical extremes at significant depths within the crust of the Earth. Attention is required to understand the near subsurface and its continuity with surface systems, where numerous novel microbial members with unique physiological modifications remain to be identified. This surface-subsurface relationship raises key questions about networking of surface hydrology, geochemistry affecting near-subsurface microbial composition, and resiliency of subsurface ecosystems.

Regional fresh snowfall microbiology and chemistry are driven by geography in storm-tracked events, Colorado, USA.

Snowfall is a global phenomenon highly integrated with hydrology and ecology. Forays into studying bioaerosols and their dependence on aeolian movement are largely constrained to either precipitation-independent analyses or in silico models. Though snowpack and glacial microbiological studies have been conducted, little is known about the biological component of meteoric snow.