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At least 145 records · Page 8
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2022

Castanha et al. 2018: Hopland Lysimeter 13C-Labeled Root Litter Decomposition Study.

The breakdown and decomposition of plant inputs are critical for nutrient cycling, soil development, and climate-ecosystem feedbacks, but uncertainties persist in how the rates and products of litter decomposition are affected by soil temperature, rhizosphere, and depth of input. To elucidate these questions we measured the effects of soil warming (+ 4 °C), rhizosphere, and depth of litter placement on the decomposition of Avena fatua (wild oat grass) root litter in a Mediterranean grassland ecosystem. Field lysimeters were subjected to three environmental treatments (heating, control, and plant removal) and three 13C-labeled root litter addition treatments (to A horizon, to B horizon, and no-addition disturbance control) for each of two harvest time points. We buried root litter in February 2014 and measured loss of 13C in CO2 from the soil surface and in leachate as dissolved organic carbon (DOC) over two growing seasons. At the end of each of the 2014 and 2015 growing seasons we recovered the 13C remaining in the soil. Loss of root litter C occurred almost entirely via heterotrophic respiration, with an estimated < 2% lost as DOC during the initial decay period. The added roots were broken down and incorporated into bulk soil material very quickly; only ~ 30% of added root was visible after 6 months. In the first growing season, decomposition occurred faster in the B than in the A horizon, the latter having greater moisture limitation. Subsequently, there was almost no further decomposition in the B horizon. After two growing seasons, less than 20% of the added root litter C remained in the A or B horizons of all environmental treatments. Heating did not stimulate decomposition, likely because it exacerbated the moisture limitation. However, while plots without plants dried down more slowly than plots with plants, their decomposition rate was not significantly greater, possibly due to the lack of rhizosphere processes such as priming. We conclude that in this Mediterranean grassland ecosystem, soil moisture, which is affected by season, depth, heating, and rhizosphere, plays a dominant role in mediating the effect of those factors on root litter decomposition, which after two seasons did not differ by depth or by treatment.The files in this dataset comprise (1) 13C-labeled litter additions made to each plot, (2) litter recovery after each of 2 growing seasons, (3) periodical soil flux measurements, (4) leachate measurements, and continuously monitored soil (5) temperature and (6) moisture.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Soil C stock and CO2 production data for Soong et al. 2021: Effects of five years of soil warming at Blodgett Forest, CA.

Subsoils below 20 cm are an important reservoir in the global carbon cycle, but little is known about their vulnerability under climate change. We measured subsoil carbon in warmed vs control plots of a conifer forest after 4.5 years of whole-soil warming (4°C). We also measured soil CO2 efflux at the surface and soil CO2 concentrations along the soil profile. Over the 4.5 years we observed that warming resulted in a loss of subsoil carbon stocks (−33 ± 11%), primarily from unprotected particulate organic matter. Warming also stimulated a sustained 30 ± 4% increase in soil CO2 efflux due to increased CO2 production through the whole-soil profile. The observed in situ decline in subsoil carbon stocks with warming is now definitive evidence of a positive soil carbon-climate feedback, which could not be concluded based on increases in CO2 effluxes alone. This dataset comprises (1) 13C and C recovery in 2014, 2016, and 2018 1m soil cores sampled in 10cm increments. (2) Monthly surface CO2 fluxes from 2014 to 2018. (3) Monthly gas well sample [CO2] and production data. And (4) density fraction data for three depths of cores recovered in 2017.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Impact of burning on soil properties and respiration; Wood Buffalo National Park, Canada; June 2019

In this study, we used burn simulations on boreal forest soil under high and low moisture conditions to investigate the effect of burning on soil temperature, soil properties such as pH, total C and total C, and soil respiration. Location and site characteristic data of 19 sampling locations within Wood Buffalo National Park, Canada are included in "sampling-site-characteristics.csv". File "Temp-all-burns.csv" contains temperature data collected 2 to 9 cm below the soil surface during 2 min. heat treatment (i.e. burn simulation) and the following 5-24 hrs. Following the burn simulations, total respiration from burned and unburned soil was collected via KOH base traps for up to 6 months ("raw-conductivity-readings.csv"). The metadata file ("all-sample-metadata.csv") contains measurements of soil pH, total C, and total N of O horizon and underlying mineral soil as well as model fits for respiration data.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Soil Core Chemistry of Wetland, Old Woman Creek National Estuarine Research Reserve, Huron, OH, 2023-10-24 to 2024-05-20

This dataset contains the chemistry data of soil samples collected from a wetland, referred to as The Cove, at Old Woman Creek Estuarine Research Reserve in Huron, OH. Soil core extractions were performed to analyze what nutrient and/or metal constituents were present at different depths and what biogeochemical activity this could indicate. Three soil cores were collected at three locations within The Cove. The soil cores were removed from their core tubing and were cut into 4 segments down the length (or depth) of the core: top to 1-inch deep, from 1 inch to 5 inches, 5 inches to 7 inches, and 7 inches to the bottom of the core (approximately 10 inches). These soils segments were each homogenized and sub-sampled for various chemical analyses. Soil chemistry measurements are reported in the SoilChem_DataTable.csv file. Collection information about the samples can be found within the SoilChem_SampleMetdata.csv file. All files associated with this dataset are listed in the SoilChem_FLMD.csv file.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

Microbial community data from throughfall exclusion experiment: Metadata, SI, community composition, LefSe, and FunGuilR data tables from PARCHED Panama tropical forest soils, 2024-2025

Soil contains more carbon (C) than terrestrial vegetation and the atmosphere combined, with some of the largest terrestrial C stocks in tropical rainforests. Soil microbes decompose organic matter, playing a vital role in the storage or loss of soil C. With climate change, drought conditions are predicted to increase in many tropical regions, including both chronic drying and extended drought, potentially influencing these processes. This project explored the effects of chronic and seasonal drying on soil microbial communities across four distinct tropical forests in a long-term drying experiment. We investigated the effects of a chronic drying manipulation on soil microbial community abundance and variation across different forests and seasons. We also compared findings with previously published data from these forests after short-term drying. This project used soils from a long-term drying experiment established in 2018 across four seasonal lowland forests in Panama. Soils were collected from 0 – 10 cm depths during three seasonal periods in control and drying plots in 2024 and 2025 from a total of 32 plots (n = 4 per forest per treatment). The forests varied in baseline rainfall and soil fertility. We calculated alpha and beta diversity indices and compared taxonomic community composition. We found significant biogeographic variation in microbial diversity and taxonomy, with significant differences across the forests and significant effects of the drying treatment. Metadata and sample IDs are within Metadata_16S.csv and Metadata_ITS.csv. Relative abundance tables of every sample at every season are shown in the Excel workbooks 16S Relative Abundance.xlsx and ITS Relative Abundance.xlsx. They are then also shown in CSV files by each taxonomic level. Linear discriminant analysis effect size (LefSe) tables are shown for the full 16S and ITS datasets (n = 96), subsets for every site at every season (n = 8), and then for the forests with each plot merged by season (n = 8). FunGuildR data table of ITS data is uploaded.

Bacteria↗
DOE OSTI2021

Sweet Sorghum Genotypes Tolerant and Sensitive to Nitrogen Stress Select Distinct Root Endosphere and Rhizosphere Bacterial Communities

The belowground microbiomes have many beneficial functions that assist plant growth, including nutrient cycling, acquisition and transport, as well as alleviation of stresses caused by nutrient limitations such as nitrogen (N). Here we analyzed the root endosphere, rhizosphere and soil bacterial communities of seven sweet sorghum genotypes differing in sensitivity to N-stress. Sorghum genotypes were grown in fields with no (low-N) or sufficient (high-N) N. The dry shoot weight ratio (low-N/high-N) was used to determine N-stress sensitivity. Our hypothesis was that genotypes tolerant and sensitive to N-stress select distinct bacterial communities. The endosphere and rhizosphere bacterial community structure were significantly different between the N-stress sensitive and tolerant genotypes in the high-N field, but not in the low-N field. However, significant changes in the relative abundance of specific bacterial taxa were observed in both fields. Streptomyces, a bacterial genus known to alleviate plant abiotic stresses, was enriched in the endosphere and rhizosphere of the tolerant genotypes in the low-N field. Our study indicates that sweet sorghum genotypes tolerant to N-stress select taxa that can potentially mitigate the N-stress, suggesting that the interactions between N-stress tolerant lines and the root-associated microbiome might be vital for coping with N-stress.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Seedling nitrogen uptake and rhizodeposition between mycorrhizal types

Tree mycorrhizal associations are associated with patterns in N cycling and soil organic matter (SOM) storage, however, we still lack a mechanistic understanding of what tree and fungal traits drive these patterns and how they will respond to global changes in soil N availability. To address this knowledge gap, we investigated how arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM)- and ectomycorrhizal (EcM)-associated seedlings alter rhizodeposition in response to increased inorganic N acquisition. Specifically, we conducted this greenhouse experiment in a sealed labeling chamber with an enriched 13Carbon atmosphere and 15Nitrogen enriched fertilizer over the course of five months from April 2021 - August 2021. To include the variability across tree species, we grew eight species of seedlings belonging to eight families that were either arbuscular (Acer rubrum, Nyssa sylvatica, Thuja occidentalis, and Prunus seritina) or ectomycorrhizal-associated (Quercus rubra, Tilia americana, Pinus strobus, and Betula lenta). We measured rhizodeposition (mg 13C), plant N uptake from fertilizer (mg N), net soil carbon, and the abundance of mycorrhizal fungi (ITS sequencing and qPCR). We also characterized fungal (ITS2) and bacterial (16S) soil communities.The data from this project are ".csv" files that can up downloaded into a folder, and then run in the associated R markdown scripts after changing the source folder location at the top of the script. These data include raw outputs and processed files (using the R markdown files) for seedling growth and biomass, 15N content, soil 13C content, raw reads and processed file versions for fungal and bacterial ASVS, and a final summary file used for modeling. R software is needed to run these data, and the packages needed are listed at the top of the R markdown file.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Data for Soil Fertility Management for Sustainable Miscanthus × giganteus Production: Increased Tiller Weight from Nitrogen Management Explains Yield Gains in Aged Miscanthus

Aging-related yield decline in Miscanthus × giganteus (miscanthus) remains a major constraint to sustainable biomass production. This study evaluated how nitrogen (N) management and soil fertility influence yield-component traits and productivity in aging miscanthus. Trials were conducted at two sites established in 2008 at the University of Illinois Energy Farm, Urbana, IL. (i) The Sun Grant trial received 0, 60, and 120 kg N ha−1 annually until 2015. Starting 2021, half of each plot received 60 or 120 kg N ha−1, resulting in six legacy-contemporary treatments: 0N–0N, 0N–120N, 60N–0N, 60N–60N, 120N–0N, 120N–120N. (ii) The Energy Farm trial remained unfertilized until 2014, when one half of each plot received 56 kg N ha−1, forming two treatments: 0N–0N, 0N–56N. Sun Grant trial results showed N fertilization increased tiller density (tillers m−2) and tiller weight (g tiller−1) in juvenile to early-mature miscanthus (2011–2015). After N withdrawal, both traits declined (20 % and 40 %), though legacy effects persisted in tiller weight in the aging stands (2020–2023). Contemporary N had little effect on tiller density but increased tiller weight by 34 %–77 %, resulting in 23 %–106 % higher machine-harvested biomass yield in 0–120N, 60-60N, and 120-120N plots. At the Energy Farm trial, 0N–56N plots yielded 59 %–108 % more biomass than 0N–0N. Soil total N increased (Sun Grant: 47 % by 2020; Energy Farm: 58 % by 2023), while Mehlich-3 P (42 %–44 %) and K (21 %–46 %) declined. These findings identify tiller weight as a key determinant of biomass yield in aging miscanthus and highlight the need for P and K management for long-term productivity.

miscanthus↗
DOE OSTI2022

Long-term nitrogen deposition enhances microbial capacities in soil carbon stabilization but reduces network complexity

Background: Anthropogenic activities have increased the inputs of atmospheric reactive nitrogen (N) into terrestrial ecosystems, affecting soil carbon stability and microbial communities. Previous studies have primarily examined the effects of nitrogen deposition on microbial taxonomy, enzymatic activities, and functional processes. Here, we examined various functional traits of soil microbial communities and how these traits are interrelated in a Mediterranean type grassland administrated with 14 years of 7 g m –2 year –1 of N amendment, based on estimated atmospheric N deposition in areas within California, USA, by the end of the twenty-first century. Results: Soil microbial communities were significantly altered by N deposition. Consistent with higher aboveground plant biomass and litter, fast-growing bacteria, assessed by abundance-weighted average rRNA operon copy number, were favored in N deposited soils. The relative abundances of genes associated with labile carbon (C) degradation (e.g., amyA and cda) were also increased. In contrast, the relative abundances of functional genes associated with the degradation of more recalcitrant C (e.g., mannanase and chitinase) were either unchanged or decreased. Compared with the ambient control, N deposition significantly reduced network complexity, such as average degree and connectedness. The network for N deposited samples contained only genes associated with C degradation, suggesting that C degradation genes became more intensely connected under N deposition. Conclusions: We propose a conceptual model to summarize the mechanisms of how changes in above- and belowground ecosystems by long-term N deposition collectively lead to more soil C accumulation.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Myco-CORPSE simulations assessing mycorrhizal carbon allocation across U.S. forests and global change scenarios

Plants allocate a substantial portion of their fixed carbon belowground to mycorrhizal fungi in exchange for nutrients and other benefits. However, most current ecosystem models omit mycorrhizal processes, limiting our ability to predict plant–soil carbon dynamics under environmental change. To address this gap, we used a mycorrhiza-explicit soil biogeochemical model, Myco-CORPSE (Mycorrhizal Carbon, Organisms, Rhizosphere, and Protection in the Soil Environment), to simulate tree carbon allocation to arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) and ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi in temperate forests.The dataset includes outputs from two sets of model simulations:1. Perturbation experiments: Simulations across gradients of ECM dominance (0–100%), nitrogen deposition, soil temperature, and net primary productivity (NPP) to test how these factors affect mycorrhizal C allocation and nutrient cycling.2. FIA-based simulations: Model applications to over 1,800 U.S. forest sites using site-specific data from the U.S. Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program, including vegetation composition, mycorrhizal type, climate, litter traits, soil properties, and N deposition.Model outputs include simulated mycorrhizal carbon allocation and related biogeochemical variables, such as soil and microbial carbon and nitrogen stocks. Data are provided in CSV format and organized by experiment type (in separate ZIP files). Python scripts for running simulations, plotting, and spatial mapping are also included and organized similarly. No proprietary software is required. These outputs support a peer-reviewed study and were used to generate figures and tables in the associated publication.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Interrelationships among methods of estimating microbial biomass across multiple soil orders and biomes: Supporting data

This dataset contains environmental and soil measurements from 18 different locations across the globe including the SPRUCE experiment site and multiple sampling depths, with 17 of these locations having samples processed between 2012-2013 and one location (SPRUCE) collected in 2021 and processed in 2022. Environmental measurements include: mean annual temperature, mean annual precipitation, and 30-day presampling temperature. Soil physicochemical measurements include: particle size analysis (PSA), pH, gravimetric moisture content (GMC), bulk soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N), total organic C and N, C:N ratio, and dissolved organic carbon (DOC). Soil biological measurements include: microbial biomass carbon (MBC) measured through chloroform fumigation extraction (CFE), gene copy numbers (GCN) of bacteria, fungi, and archaea measured through quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), DNA yield measured through Nanodrop spectrophotometry, and phospholipid fatty acids (PLFA) of bacteria and fungi measured through PLFA analysis. This data set contains one file in comma separate (*.csv) format.

archaea gene copy number↗
NASA NTRS1990

Sources of variation in nitrous oxide flux from Amazonian ecosystems

Nitrous oxide flux and soil nutrient characteristics were measured in three undisturbed tropical ecosystem types, in cleared and burned areas, and in areas of forest converted to pasture near Manaus, Brazil. Nitrogen mineralization, nitrification, and soil nitrogen pools were high in upland forests on clay soils (terra firme) and low in the sand-type and floodplain (varzea) soils. Nitrous oxide flux followed the same pattern, with an average flux of 1.9 ng/sq cm per hr in terra firme, 0.3 in sand types, and 0.1 in varzea. Flux from recently cleared and burned areas did not differ from terra firme forest, but pastures had significantly elevated fluxes (10.3 ng/sq cm per hr). These data were combined with satellite data-based areal estimates of land cover classes to estimate total N2O-N flux from the intensive study area used by the Amazon Boundary Layer Experiment. Total N2O-N flux from the area was 22.9 kg/h; pastures covered 11 percent of the area but accounted for over 40 percent of the flux.

Matson, P. A.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Terrestrial nitrogen cycles: Some unanswered questions

Nitrogen is generally considered to be the element which most often limits the growth of plants in both natural and agricultural ecosystems. It regulates plant growth because photosynthetic rates are strongly dependent on the concentration of nitrogen in leaves, and because relatively large mounts of protein are required for cell division and growth. Yet nitrogen is abundant in the biosphere - the well-mixed pool in the atmosphere is considered inexhaustible compared to biotic demand, and the amount of already fixed organic nitrogen in soils far exceeds annual plant uptake in terrestrial ecosystems. In regions where natural vegetation is not nitrogen limited, continuous cultivation induces nitrogen deficiency. Nitrogen loss from cultivated lands is more rapid than that of other elements, and nitrogen fertilization is generally required to maintain crop yield under any continuous system. The pervasiveness of nitrogen deficiency in many natural and most managed sites is discussed.

Vitousek, P.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Implantation of nitrogen: Effects of hydrogen and implantation energy

To solve the question on solar nitrogen in lunar soils, i.e. variation in isotopic composition and apparently high retentivity compared with rare gases, nitrogen implantation experiments were conducted. At the Meteoritical Society Meeting in Copenhagen, the results of stepped combustion of implanted nitrogen in ilmenite and olivine were presented. The degassing behavior of nitrogen (and also Ar) was quite different from that observed in the case of lunar soils. Extraction temperatures are higher (greater than 1100 C for ilmenite and 1500 C for olivine) than that for lunar soils. Both nitrogen and Ar seem to be retained at the same efficiency. Therefore, additional experiments were conducted to make degassing behavior of nitrogen more close to that observed in the case of lunar soils.

Sugiura, Naoji↗
DOE OSTI2022

Sources and Variability of Nitrate on an Alaskan Hillslope Dominated by Alder Shrubs, Kougarok, Alaska, 2017 and 2018

Data provided include results of analyses of soil pore-water, soil moisture, and leaf litter samples collected at a Kougarok Hillslope site dominated by alder shrubs (KG_MM64) in the Seward Peninsula, Alaska during July and September 2017 and 2018. Samples were from surface soils in close proximity to 5 alder patches, collected upslope, within, and downslope of the alder patches. Pore water was analyzed for a comprehensive set of anions, cations, elemental analyses, and oxygen and nitrogen isotopes. Soil samples were collected for soil moisture determination. Leaf litter extracts were analyzed for carbon and nitrogen content and carbon and nitrogen isotopes. This dataset contains 3 *.csv files and 1 *.pdf file. The Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments: Arctic (NGEE Arctic), was a research effort to reduce uncertainty in Earth System Models by developing a predictive understanding of carbon-rich Arctic ecosystems and feedbacks to climate. NGEE Arctic was supported by the Department of Energy's Office of Biological and Environmental Research. The NGEE Arctic project had two field research sites: 1) located within the Arctic polygonal tundra coastal region on the Barrow Environmental Observatory (BEO) and the North Slope near Utqiagvik (Barrow), Alaska and 2) multiple areas on the discontinuous permafrost region of the Seward Peninsula north of Nome, Alaska. Through observations, experiments, and synthesis with existing datasets, NGEE Arctic provided an enhanced knowledge base for multi-scale modeling and contributed to improved process representation at global pan-Arctic scales within the Department of Energy's Earth system Model (the Energy Exascale Earth System Model, or E3SM), and specifically within the E3SM Land Model component (ELM).

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Quarterly Soil Core and Root Analyses from the Missouri Ozarks AmeriFlux (MOFLUX) Site, Ashland, Missouri, 2017-2023

This dataset contains quarterly soil core measurements from the Missouri Ozarks AmeriFlux (MOFLUX) site located at the University of Missouri’s Thomas H. Baskett Wildlife Research and Education Area near Ashland, Missouri. These data will be used to parameterize an ensemble of MOFLUX-optimized soil carbon-nitrogen models, used to simulate carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycling responses to future hydroclimatic scenarios and the trajectory of soil C stocks with concomitant forest decline. Beginning in 2017, eight soil cores were collected approximately quarterly near plot 1 of the southeast transect, near the automated soil respiration flux chambers, from 0–15 cm depth. Data are currently available through 2023 (2017-06-14 to 2023-11-13); additional observations will be appended to this dataset as they become available. Cores were analyzed for gravimetric moisture content, pH, total carbon and nitrogen, texture, microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen, and extractable dissolved organic carbon and nitrogen. This dataset contains one data file in comma separate (*.csv) format. Additional metadata are provided: one data dictionary and a file-level metadata file in comma separate (*.csv) format and a user guide in PDF (*.pdf) format.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

Blodgett 13C–labeled litter incubation 2016-2019

The dataset is from 13C-labelled (stable isotope of carbon) root-litter in-situ field incubation experiment based on the whole-soil warming experiment at the Blodgett Forest Research Station, CA, USA. The files are in both ".csv" and ".xlsx" versions, and can be opened in "maCOS numbers", and "Microsoft Excel". The files includes several sheets with all the data published in the paper: Sun, B., Zosso, C., Wiesenberg, G. L. B., Pegoraro, E., Torn, M. S., and Schmidt, M. W. I.: Warming accelerates the decomposition of root-derived hydrolysable lipids in a temperate forest and is depth- and compound class-dependent, SOIL, 11, 1077–1093, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-11-1077-2025, 2025. This dataset includes bulk soil carbon, nitrogen, delta 13C values, the normalized concentration (to organic carbon) of hydrolysable lipids identified, the absolute concentration (normalized to bulk soil) of hydrolysable lipids, hydrolysable lipids recovery, and weighted 13C-excess of bulk soil carbon, and weighted 13C-excess of each compound class in hydrolysable lipids. These data aim to answer two research questions: 1) How will warming affect the decomposition of 13C-labelled root-litter at different depth? 2) Will the decomposition of root-derived hydrolysable lipids under warming differ among different compound classes? The experiment sites located on the foothills of the Sierra Nevada near Georgetown, CA (120°3904000W; 38°5404300 N) at 1370m above see level. The Blodgett Forest is a mixed-coniferous forest. The site has a Mediterranean climate with a mean annual air temperature of 12.5 °C and a mean annual precipitation of 1774mm.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

EvoNet: A phylogenomic and systems biology approach to identify genes underlying plant survival in marginal, low‐N soils

The DOE‐BER “EvoNet” project investigates the genetic and molecular basis of plant resilience in extreme environments. We do this by identifying key genes that enable “extreme survivor” species to thrive in the nitrogen-poor soils of Chile’s hyper-arid Atacama Desert. Our collections focus on 32 Atacama extremophile species, including seven grass species with potential biofuel applications. To identify genes-of-importance to survival we compared genomic and transcriptomic profiles of extremophile species that thrive in the Atacama to those of closely related “sister” species from nitrogen-rich arid and mesic regions of California. Deep RNA sequencing and de novo transcriptome assembly across these triplet species sets supported a phylogenomic framework for identifying positively selected genes associated with adaptive divergence. Our integrative analysis combined ecological and environmental data, metagenomics, evolutionary and systems biology, and metabolomics. This enabled us to create an unprecedented framework for systematically understanding how non-model plants have adapted to survive in extreme conditions. Our resulting database of positively selected ortholog groups in the extremophile plants offers promising targets for engineering crop and biofuel species with enhanced resilience to drought and extreme weather. Additionally, our newest dataset explores and exploits a complementary metabolomic approach. This new aspect provides innovative strategies to manipulate plant cell metabolism, further supporting efforts to improve agricultural productivity in the face of extreme climates. Importantly, our combined evolutionary- and metabolomic-based strategies focused on convergent patterns of adaptation, providing a genetic and metabolomic toolkit for improving crop and biofuel resilience across diverse plant species. Finally, our novel exploration of ecological and evolutionary dynamics delivered to the community a phylogenomic computational pipeline called “PhyloGeneious.” Our continued adaptations of this pipeline are publicly available to expedite evolutionary genomic research for future scientific discoveries. In total, our DOE-BER has provided genomic, metabolomic, and computational strategies to understand how extremophile plants provide evolutionary and physiological targets for improving agricultural and biofuel production.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗