Ecohydrological controls on root and microbial respiration in the East River watershed of Colorado

Belowground in the soil, microbes

microbe

Microbes are tiny living things that are found all around us and are too small to be seen by the naked eye. They live in water, soil, and in the air.

Source: NIH Source

breakdown organic matter, releasing CO2.

carbon dioxide (CO2)

An important heat-trapping gas, also known as a greenhouse gas, that comes from the extraction and burning of fossil fuels (such as coal, oil, and natural gas), from wildfires, and natural processes like volcanic eruptions.

Source: NASA Source

  Plant roots produce CO2 also, via their metabolism.  Our research seeks to understand how moisture inputs, such as snow and rain, influence the amount of CO2 produced belowground in the East River watershed,

watershed

An area of land that channels rainfall and snowmelt to creeks, streams, and rivers, and eventually flows to the lowest point in a basin.

Source: USGS Source

near Crested Butte, Colorado. We will quantify the flux

flux

The amount of some type of particle or energy crossing a unit area per unit time.

Source: NRC Library Source

of CO2from the soil to the atmosphere, and how plant and microbial sources of CO2 respond to the environment, across different elevations.  We will work in the two main forest types in the East River watershed, spruce/fir and aspen. To do this, continuous measurements of soil CO2 concentrations, at multiple depths, will be combined with novel radiocarbon methods that will enable the separation of plant and microbial sources of CO2.  At each site, these measurements will be linked to measurements of forest and snow phenology, microbial activity, and environmental factors such as air and soil temperature, soil moisture, and groundwater

groundwater

Water that occurs below Earth's surface. When rain falls to the ground, a portion percolates (sinks) into the ground and collects in spaces in the underground rocks.

Source: A student's guide to Global Climate Change Source

flow.  Our work is motivated by our overarching hypothesis that quantifying belowground plant and microbial processes separately, and how they are influenced by snow and rain inputs, is necessary for understanding and predicting how the belowground East River watershed ecosystems will respond to changes in the environment.