Grant: Strategic Projects - Group

Climate change and economic pressure to intensively harvest forests for biofuel production are both creating grave new challenges to sustainable forest management. Soil carbon cycling processes are vital to forest ecosystems and mediate the long-term effects of climate change and removal of biomass through harvesting. These processes are performed by extremely complex forest soil microbial communities comprised of thousands of species of fungi and bacteria, most of which cannot be cultivated in the laboratory. In field studies, we will investigate how these processes are affected by forest management options and landscape changes due to climate change. In particular, we will focus on the transfer of carbon between trees via underground microbial networks and the decomposition of organic matter. We will use leading edge research methods to elucidate effects on the soil microbial communities, species, genes and enzymes responsible for carbon cycling. This project will yield significant advances in our understanding of forest soil carbon cycling, which will support forest management policy development. The project will also develop new research tools that will facilitate applied research on forest management. These contributions to meeting forest management imperatives will have important benefits for the Canadian economy as well as the global environment.