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New Clues About the Roles of Subsurface Microbes in Globally Important Cycles1 min read

by Maryann Villavert on October 24, 2016

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

Banfield-Rifle-Colorado

Jill Banfield, at the Watershed Function Scientific Focus Area site near Rifle, Colorado, where research by her team has doubled the number of known bacterial groups. (Credit: Berkeley Lab, Roy Kaltschmidt)

Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley research provides new clues about the roles of subsurface microbes in globally important cycles. This research is one of the most detailed genomic studies of any ecosystem to date and has revealed an underground world of stunning microbial diversity, and added dozens of new branches to the tree of life.

Jill Banfield, a Senior Faculty Scientist in the Climate & Ecosystem Sciences Division and a UC Berkeley professor in the departments of Earth and Planetary Science, and Environmental Science, Policy, and Management and team members from LBNL, UC, and the DOE Joint Genome Institute conducted their research as part of the Watershed Function Scientific Focus Area (formerly Sustainable Systems Scientific Focus Area 2.0).

The discovery of the new branches (between the 47 new bacterial groups reported in this work, and 35 new groups published last year) come with naming rights. For example, there’s Candidatus Andersenbacteria, after phylochip inventor Gary Andersen (EESA’s Ecology Department Head).

Read more about “New Bacteria Groups, and Stunning Diversity, Discovered Underground” from the Berkeley Lab News Center (October 24, 2016).

News & Events

EESA Scientists Investigate How Tropical Soil Microbes Might Respond to Future Droughts2 min read

March 14, 2023

As the most biologically diverse terrestrial ecosystems on Earth, tropical rainforests are just as critical to sustaining environmental and human systems as they are beautiful. Their unique climate with high temperatures, humidity, and precipitation promotes high primary productivity, which offsets high respiration, resulting in these ecosystems being one of the largest carbon sinks on Earth,…

Doubling Protected Lands for Biodiversity Could Require Tradeoffs With Other Land Uses, Study Finds4 min read

March 3, 2023

This article first appeared on lbl.gov. Scientists show how 30% protected land targets may not safeguard biodiversity hotspots and may negatively affect other sectors – and how data and analysis can support effective conservation and land use planning Although more than half the world’s countries have committed to protecting at least 30% of land and oceans…

Six Berkeley Lab Scientists Named AAAS Fellows6 min read

This article first appeared at lbl.gov Six researchers have been elected into the 2022 class of the American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has announced their 2022 Fellows, including six scientists from the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). This lifetime honor, which follows…

Kenichi Soga named to National Academy of Engineers1 min read

February 23, 2023

Faculty scientist Kenichi Soga was named to the National Academy of Engineering (NA), one of the highest honors that can be achieved as an American engineer. Soga is the Donald H. McLaughlin Chair in Mineral Engineering and a Chancellor’s Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and has conducted groundbreaking research from infrastructure sensing to…

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