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Contributed Talk

Session: : Biogeochemistry: Scaling Processes From Genes To Ecosystems 2

COS 276-2 - A Molecular Observation Network (MONet) database for soil function at regional scales

Thursday, August 10, 2023
1:45 PM – 2:00 PM PDT
Location: B116
Abstract: We have relatively poor mechanistic understandings of soil organic matter (SOM) chemical processing pathways, and of how these processes aggregate across regions, leading to well-known uncertainties in Earth Systems model predictions. A major limitation to developing improved models is the inavailability of high-resolution SOM compositional information for different soil and land use types. To provide such data, the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) is developing a regional- and CONUS-scale database of high-resolution molecular and microstructural soil data. EMSL’s Molecular Observation Network (MONet) encompasses an open network of scientists contributing soil cores at rates of 100s per year for analysis via standardized and scalable high-throughput workflows. More than 20 datatypes, including SOM composition, microbial metagenomes, soil pore network structure, and biogeochemical parameters are being generated. Data will populate in a new searchable FAIR MONet database that will support a new soil ecology data user community. These new molecular and microstructural data complement and extend data in existing soil ecology networks such as Ameriflux and NEON. Our goal is to support a new molecular data user community of soil ecologists, field and laboratory soil scientists and modelers, and ultimately, to transform our predictive understanding of soil carbon cycling. In this presentation, we will describe the MONet soil characterization user program and present an overview of early results from the 1000 Soils Pilot project.

In collaboration with the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON), we collected, processed, and analyzed soil cores from 100 distinct locations, including all of the terrestrial NEON ecoregions within CONUS. For each core, we performed or are performing depth-stratified analyses of soils using Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance- (FTICR-) and liquid chromatography- (LC-) mass spectrometry (MS) (SOM composition); X-ray Computed Tomography (XCT) and water retention curves (pore network structure and hydraulics); and metagenomics (microbial community composition), along with other standard chemical and physical analyses and decomposition rates. Early results are providing new insights into soil C pools at high-resolution (FTICR-MS) and microbiome structure (metagenomics) and function (beta-glucosidase potential activity and CO2 flux). Cross-biome analyses of linkages between substrate chemistry, soil microbiomes, and belowground C turnover suggest that correlations often observed at pot- and plot-scale (e.g., between C:N and respiration) persist at CONUS scale, hinting at the existence of molecular-to-regional scaling relationships. These findings illustrate some of the many ways this new open science user program will provide crucial insights into SOM processes and soil function.