Linking functionally relevant characteristics of dissolved organic matter to functional traits of the microbial community (Fun-DOM)

All living biomass is comprised of organic matter.

The degradation of dissolved organic matter (DOM) is critical for recycling energy and nutrients back into a functioning ecosystem. The rate that DOM degrades is highly variable, spanning from minutes to millennia. Yet, rates of DOM degradation remain highly speculative to predict for ecosystem and climate modeling.

Current theories of controls on DOM degradation are diverging in a theoretically inconsistent and fractured manner across soil, freshwater and marine sub-disciplines.

Some theories, stress the importance of energy stored within DOM molecules, while others emphasize the importance of environmental conditions including the microbial community.

The goal of this project is to consolidate these apparently diverging theories into a more robust unified mechanistic understanding of controls on DOM degradation. I am uniquely positioned to lead this fundamental shift in thinking due to a multi-disciplinary background.

Fun-DOM will push technological advancements to answer lingering questions about functionally relevant characteristics of DOM and functional traits of microbial community.

The experimental approach will identify the relative importance of factors limiting degradation pathways across a wide range of DOM sources.

Ultimately, Fun-DOM will map out slow and fast pathways of DOM degradation that can feed mechanistic models of DOM turnover.