Soil microbes act as gatekeepers of soil-atmosphere carbon exchange by balancing the rates of decomposition and stabilisation of organic matter to either release or store carbon, which has consequences for the global carbon budget. However, the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Intensive land use soils are generally resource limited and dry which creates nutrient and moisture stress for microbes. We hypothesise that under improved conditions, microbes will demonstrate higher fitness and greater growth yield and therefore higher carbon sequestration, and in this project we test this theory.
New methods developed through this project will enable us to experimentally assess feedback mechanisms of soil conditions and microbial traits on carbon sequestration across simulated land use gradients.