  Biogeochemistry and climate change in the Great Plains |
| Scientists do not understand how climate change in the Great Plains region will influence biosphere-atmosphere fluxes of CO2 and N2O, and the microbial activities that generate these greenhouse gases and plant-available N. To address these questions, we are assessing how extracellular enzyme activity of soil microorganisms and associated biogeochemical fluxes change under varying precipitation regimes. We also are using PCR techniques to determine how microbial composition is altered with changing climate, and what that may mean for functional gene expression in these soils. |