Environmental and Biological Systems Science Program Domain

Berkeley Lab-Developed Digital Library is a Game Changer for Environmental Research

July 24, 2018

Data collection in Rifle, Colorado, as part of EESA's Sustainable Systems Scientific Focus Area research project. (Photo credit: Berkeley Lab)

Environmental data are crucial for planning our water and energy future, safeguarding against environmental threats and building resilient infrastructure. By using high-quality observations collected over years to power computer models, researchers can examine and predict ecosystem and watershed behaviors over the course of seasons to decades to centuries. However, storing, accessing and incorporating environmental…

Post Ecology Department Ecosystems Biology Program Environmental and Biological Sciences Environmental and Biological Systems Science Program Domain Environmental Remediation & Water Resources Program GC-Microbial Engines GC-Resilient Systems GC-Sustainable Earth

Digging Deep: Harnessing the Power of Soil Microbes for More Sustainable Farming

March 14, 2018

Berkeley Lab’s ‘farm of the future’ project marries microbiology and machine learning

Post Ecology Department Ecosystems Biology Program Environmental and Biological Systems Science Program Domain GC-Microbial Engines Publication

‘Magic Pools’ Approach Accelerates Study of Novel Bacteria

February 28, 2018

This article originally appeared on the website of the Biosciences Area at Berkeley Lab. Several of the diverse microbes used in the study described were isolated from nitrate-contaminated and pristine groundwater wells at Oak-Ridge Field Research Center by a team led by Romy Chakraborty, head of the Ecology Department within the Earth and Environmental Sciences Area…

Post Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division Environmental and Biological Systems Science Program Domain Environmental Remediation & Water Resources Program

The Art of Studying—and Sharing—Snowmelt Science in a Mountain Watershed

June 12, 2017

As an ecologist working with the Environmental & Earth Science Area’s Watershed Scientific Focus Area (SFA), Heidi Steltzer and her research assistant, Chelsea Wilmer, spend a lot of time conducting fieldwork in the picturesque Colorado mountains. Now, as she’s studying snowmelt and its effects on plant growth in Crested Butte, Colorado, Steltzer is bringing the SFA’s science to a much wider audience.

Post Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division Ecology Department Environmental and Biological Systems Science Program Domain Environmental Remediation & Water Resources Program Geochemistry Department In The Press

New Clues About the Roles of Subsurface Microbes in Globally Important Cycles

October 24, 2016

Jill Banfield's research team provides new clues about the roles of subsurface microbes in globally important cycles and adds new branches to the tree of life.

Post Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division Ecology Department Environmental and Biological Systems Science Program Domain Environmental Remediation & Water Resources Program In The Press

New Technology Helps Pinpoint Sources of Water Contamination

October 5, 2016

Using the award-winning PhyloChip, a credit card-sized device that can detect the presence of more than 60,000 species of bacteria and archaea, a new method was found that was more sensitive than conventional methods at assessing health risks of microbially contaminated water.

Berkeley Lab to Lead the Watershed Function Scientific Focus Area

July 11, 2016

Berkeley Lab will lead the Watershed Function Scientific Focus Area (SFA) to quantify how perturbations to mountainous watershed—floods, drought, fire and early snowmelt—impact the downstream delivery of water, nutrients, carbon, and metals. Researchers will observe and model watershed response to perturbations over seasonal to decadal timeframes, and from genome to watershed scales. The Department of Energy (DOE) Office of…