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Program Domain

Environmental & Biological Systems Science

Develop a predictive understanding of environmental processes and microbial metabolic diversity that mediate biogeochemical cycles, and develop robust environmental solutions.

Programs

History of uranium milling at a site of deep interest to LBNL (DOE’s Rifle, CO field station).
Program

Environmental Remediation and Water Resources

The key driver for this program is to improve the scientific foundation of hydrological, biological, and geochemical processes and their interactions relevant to environmental remediation, water resources, and enhanced energy production.

Kenneth H. Williams khwilliams@lbl.gov 510-701-1089

Coffee bean borer on coffee bean; caffeine chain upper left; bacteria image from beetle gut right. Crop 16:9.
Program

Ecosystems Biology Program

The Ecosystems Biology Program focuses on discovering and understanding the molecular basis of plant, microbial and metazoan interactions, including specific gene functions, species interactions, and community dynamics under a variety of environmental conditions—and developing the advanced technology that enables such understanding.

Eoin Brodie elbrodie@lbl.gov 510-486-6584

Program

Bioenergy

Research projects in EESA’s Bioenergy Program apply synthetic biology, bioengineering, and microbiology to foster renewable fuel production. Key themes of the Bioenergy Program include: (1) developing novel biofuel pathways in bacteria, (2) exploiting microbial metabolic diversity for biofuel production and lignocellulose deconstruction, and (3) mitigating petroleum souring.

harry beller

Private: Harry R. Beller hrbeller@lbl.gov 510-486-7321

Background

Physical, chemical and biological soil and subsurface interactions are critical to sustaining life. These interactions regulate the geochemical flux of life-critical elements, control food production, and purify water. Biologically based processes can also be used to extract or enhance natural energy resources. It is imperative to deepen our quantitative and predictive understanding of how abiotic and biotic components interact to ensure the sustainability of these critical terrestrial systems and to pursue the potential for new green solutions.

A key characteristic of EESA’s Environmental & Biological Systems Science Program Domain is its ability to interrogate and interpret small-scale biological processes within the context of larger Earth systems, such as molecules in leaves, and microbial communities in terrestrial and marine environments and in energy reservoirs. Scientists working in this Program Domain strive to expand their understanding to predict how living systems are organized and function, from molecular  to watershed and reservoir scales. Scientists also develop cutting-edge tools to facilitate such understanding, including the 2008 R&D 100 award-winning PhyloChip and the EESA-led Berkeley Synchrotron Infrared Structural Biology (BSISB) program. EESA scientists draw on extensive environmental science expertise in the Earth and Environmental Sciences Area, and have a reputation for path-breaking work in molecular environmental microbiology, microbial physiology, shallow subsurface biogeochemistry, environmental geophysics, and multiscale mechanistic modeling of microbially mediated processes.

Research in this Program Domain is aligned with the LBNL Biosciences Area strategic direction. In particular, it contributes to the quantification of how microbial communities interact with and transform the functioning of dynamic and heterogeneous Earth systems.

Research in this Program Domain is also closely aligned with the Biosphere-Atmosphere Interactions Program Domain, because quantifying the effect of climate change on biological systems (and vice versa) must consider bedrock-to-atmospheric processes.

This Program Domain is part of the Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division.

Program Domain Leads

Eoin Brodie
Deputy Director, Climate & Ecosystem Sciences Division;
Lead, Environmental & Biological Systems Sciences Program Domain

News & Events

EESA Scientists Investigate How Tropical Soil Microbes Might Respond to Future Droughts

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 Finds

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…

A Q&A With Rachel Ward

February 13, 2023

After witnessing tropical deforestation in Honduras and collaborating with farmers impacted by the degradation in these forests, Ph.D. candidate Rachel Ward knew what she wanted to study next–tropical forest regeneration. Ward’s passion to study the impact of tropical forests on both communities and the global carbon cycle led her to pursuing a Ph.D. with the…

A Q&A With Jessica Needham

After being immersed in the Bornean rainforest and surrounded by Dipterocarp trees–large tropical trees with winged seeds–during a field trip in Borneo, Research Scientist Jessica Needham’s life was changed. Since then, her passion to study forests has only grown stronger–and has even led her to modeling tree growth patterns all over the world.  Question: What…

A Q&A With Barbara Bomfim

Growing up in Brasilia, Postdoctoral Research Fellow Barbara Bomfim experienced the transformation of the savannas and rainforests that surrounded her. Now studying wind disturbance and nutrient cycling on the NGEE-Tropics project, Bomfim is passionate about tropical forest response to disturbances in the hopes of advancing science necessary for well-informed and effective forest management.  Question: What…

A Q&A with Marcos Longo

As he conducted field work in the Amazon, Research Scientist Marcos Longo experienced the deforestation of Amazon forests and witnessed the thick clouds of smoke from these ecosystems as they were on fire. Since then, Longo has dedicated his career towards researching the impacts of climate change and disturbance on tropical ecosystems.  What led you…

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