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Fantastic news! Noah Fierer has just been informed that his proposal has been recommended for funding.

An integrated study of the effects of nutrient additions on grassland soil microbial communities"

Amount = $655,617 over 5 years.

Here is the project summary:

Terrestrial ecosystems across the globe are receiving elevated inputs of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) due to the direct or indirect activities of humans. Soil microbes play critical roles in the functioning of ecosystems and the maintenance of ecosystem productivity, yet the impacts of the increases in nutrient availability on soil microbes are poorly understood. We do not know how the overall structure and diversity of microbial communities is influenced by nutrient additions, which nutrients are most influential, whether microbial responses mirror plant responses, and which mechanisms are responsible for the observed differences among microbial communities. To address these knowledge gaps, soils will be collected from 35 grasslands throughout the world that have been receiving standardized, experimental additions of N and P as part of the recently-established Nutrient Network (NutNet) experiment. By leveraging this pre-existing experiment, we can directly compare microbial and plant responses to nutrient additions across grassland sites that represent a broad range of climatic conditions, plant communities, and soil types to build a more comprehensive understanding of microbial responses to nutrient additions than would be possible by focusing on just a single site or a handful of sites. We will also conduct a lab-based study, controlling N, P, and organic carbon inputs to soil in order to discern the specific mechanisms that may be responsible for the microbial responses observed in the field.