Jennifer Bhatnagar

Our lab studies the ecology, chemistry, and biology of microbes in ecosystems. Soil microorganisms like fungi and bacteria are engines of carbon (C) and nutrient exchange between the biosphere and atmosphere. The goal of our research is to uncover the biochemical mechanisms that microbes use to drive these large-scale processes, and how the are disrupted by global changes like climate warming and precipitation change. To do this, we combine biochemical analyses of soil microbes with next generation sequencing technologies in climate manipulation experiments to identify direct, mechanistic links between climate regimes and the genetic architecture, community structure, and biochemical functions of microbes.

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