Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences

Science Rendezvous > 2009 Posters
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Produce of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) by soil microorganisms

Noah Fierer, Jonathan Leff, Erin Brown, Michael Wilkinson, Russell Monson

The production of nonmethane volatile organic compounds (VOCs) by soil microbes is likely to have an important influence on soil ecology, atmospheric chemistry, and terrestrial biogeochemistry. However, soil VOC production has received relatively little attention, and we do not know how the emissions of microbially-produced VOCs vary across soil and litter types. Here we discuss three inter-related projects that examine the types of VOCs produced by microorganisms across a range of ecosystem types, the biotic and abiotic factors correlated with soil VOC production rates, how the net production of VOCs during litter decomposition is influenced by nitrogen deposition, and how microbially-produced VOCs influence microbial community structure and function in soil.