About This Project
In a laboratory soil incubation, I will combine stable isotope tracing, methane (CH4) production and consumption inhibition experiments, and microbial genetic sequencing to quantify CH4 consumption, characterize the soil microbes responsible, and identify the soil factors that regulate atmospheric CH4 uptake in soils.
Ask the Scientists
Join The DiscussionWhat is the context of this research?
(1) How much do CH4 production and consumption each contribute to net soil flux? (2) Which microbes carry out CH4 consumption? and (3) Which soil factors regulate atmospheric CH4 uptake?
What is the significance of this project?
Understanding the drivers of soil methane consumption is critical for predicting net soil-surface methane fluxes, advancing basic soil biogeochemistry, and informing potential climate mitigation.
What are the goals of the project?
This study will isolate methane (CH4) production from consumption in net soil flux, identify responsible microbes, and characterize the biogeochemical, biological, and physical drivers of consumption.
Budget
Support from the Science Foundation will fund materials for the proposed laboratory and field studies, including 13C-enriched methane (CH4) for stable isotope tracing; soil incubation supplies (e.g., syringes, needles, septa, crimps, headspace vials, and silicone gel); gas standards for the gas chromatograph and isotope ratio mass spectrometer (IRMS); inhibitors of CH4 production and consumption (2-bromoethanesulfonate [BES] and methyl fluoride [CH3F], respectively); DNeasy PowerSoil Kits for DNA extraction; and field supplies for measuring net soil-surface CH4 fluxes and soil variables (moisture, temperature, and oxygen), soil sampling, and field travel. It will also cover IRMS time for gas samples, DNA amplification (16S rRNA V4 region; pmoA and mcrA primer sets), and sequencing (Illumina MiSeq and Sanger). This funding would allow me to begin the project this winter, when flooding and drying transitions at our field site create ideal conditions for addressing our research questions.
Project Timeline
I will have my in situ net soil-surface methane flux measurement system set up and will collect soils for lab experiments completed by the end of November 2026. By the middle of December, I will begin the inhibition experiments. By the end of January, I'll begin the isotope tracing experiments. And by the middle of February, I'll begin the microbial DNA extraction of soil samples and ship them to an outside lab for amplification and sequencing.
Nov 30, 2026
Collect soils
Dec 14, 2026
Begin inhibition experiments
Jan 11, 2027
Begin isotope tracing experiments
Feb 15, 2027
Begin DNA extraction & send off samples for amplification and sequencing
Meet the Team
Ellery Vaughan
4th year PhD candidate
Science is how I engage with the world around me: it channels my curiosity, brings the ultimate joy of continually learning about how nature works, connects me to a community that thinks deeply and cares about the natural world, and offers daily highs and lows depending on the stage of a research project. It has already challenged me to grow in ways I never imagined, and it gives me a way to give back to the planet by contributing to ecosystem ecology research that can help mitigate climate change impacts on ecosystems. I care profoundly about science, and I aspire to add to our shared knowledge, one incremental contribution at a time.
Lab Notes
Nothing posted yet.
Additional Information
This research project ties together soil biogeochemistry, microbial ecology, isotope geochemistry, ecosystem ecology, and biogeochemical cycling (carbon and redox), with relevance to climate science.
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