Dawson Fairbanks,
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Research Interests
I am interested in microbial biogeochemistry and global change. Microbes are the engines that drive global biogeochemical cycles but relatively little is known about the functional redundancy and community interactions of microbes at the landscape scale. My research examines microbial functionality in the context of soil water processes. My dissertation project examined microbial communities responses to environmental pertubations, such as fire disturbance, snowmelt and seasonality in a high elevation forest ecosystems. I use a combination of in situ soil gas measurements, soil pore water and stream water chemistry, microbial functional assays, molecular tools (16S, ITS, metagenomes) and geochemical measurements to understand the microbial processes that are occurring and the resulting biogeochemical responses in ecosystems. My research is well suited to test specific hypothesis in how microbes structure themselves based on ecological trait based theory that dictates their functioning and responses in the environment. I am also passionate about network science. I have worked on large scale synthesis projects to understand the complexities of microorganisms and their interactions at global scales with the National Ecological Observatory Network and the Critical Zone Observatory networks. I have helped established and utilize cross-disciplinary infrastructure and formed collaborations to answer cutting edge questions in microbial ecology and more broadly in environmental science research.
I am also committed to science education and outreach and participate in various community and K-12 outreach activities around Tucson and my home state in Alaska.
I am also committed to science education and outreach and participate in various community and K-12 outreach activities around Tucson and my home state in Alaska.
Honors and Awards
- DOE CSP New Investigator Award, 2021
- UA/NASA Space Grant Fellowship, 2020-2021
- 1st Place UA Earth Week Poster Award, 2019
- NSF Students Across Virtual Institutes (SAVI) International Scholars Award, 2016
- UA Carson Science Communications Scholar, 2016
- NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program, 2015
- Sloan Indigenous Graduate Partnership Fellowship, 2014
- UA Graduate Access Fellowship, 2014
- Travel Grant, Graduate Professional Student Council, 2014
- Travel Grant, SWES Student Travel Award, 2014
- Hooper Undergraduate Research Awards, 2012
Background
I enjoy gardening, hiking, running, yoga and downhill skiing. I grew up on a sailboat in southeast Alaska and I love being on the water kayaking and paddle boarding. I’ve had a variety of work experiences in conservation and land management. I spent one summer working at a bear observatory in Alaska with the Forest Service and I have done conservation work as part of an AmeriCorps program in Arizona working on a chainsaw crew on forest restoration projects. Living in Arizona for the past 10 years, I've come to appreciate the beauty and diversity of the arid southwest.
Publications
Qin, Clara, Ryan Bartelme, Anny Chung, Dawson Fairbanks, Yang Lin, Daniel Liptzin, Chance Muscarella, Kusum Naithani, Kabir Peay, Peter Pellitier, Ayanna St. Rose, Lee Stanish, Zoey Werbin, Kai Zhu. (in review). From DNA sequences to microbial ecology: Wrangling NEON soil microbe data with the neonMicrobe R package. In review at Ecosphere.
Fairbanks, Dawson, Christopher Shepard, Margretta Murphy, Jon Chorover, Virginia Rich and Rachel Gallery (2020). Depth and topographic controls on extracellular enzyme activity post-wildfire at the Jemez River Basin Critical Zone Observatory. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 148:107844 doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2020.107844
Dove, Nicholas, Keshav Arogyaswamy, Sharon Billings, Jon K. Bothoff, Chelsea J. Carey, Caitlin Cisco, Jared L. DeForest, Dawson Fairbanks, Noah Fierer, Rachel Gallery, Jason P. Kaye, Kathleen A. Lohse, Mia R. Maltz, Emilio Mayora, Jennifer Pett-Ridge, Wendy H. Yang, Stephen C. Hart, Emma L. Aronson (2020). Continental-scale patterns of extracellular enzyme activity in the subsoil: an overlooked reservoir of microbial activity. Environmental Research Letters 15:1040a1 doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abb0b3
Brewer, Tess, Emma L. Aronson, Keshav Arogyaswamy, Sharon A. Billings, Jon K. Botthoff, Ashley N. Campbell, Nicholas C. Dove, Dawson Fairbanks, Rachel E. Gallery, Stephen C. Hart, Jason Kaye, Gary King, Geoffrey Logan, Kathleen A. Lohse, Mia R. Maltz, Emilio Mayorga, Caitlin O’Neill, Sarah M. Owens, Aaron Packman, Jennifer Pett-Ridge, Alain F. Plante, Daniel D. Richter, Whendee L. Silver, Wendy H. Yang, Noah Fierer (2019). Ecological and genomic attributes of novel bacterial taxa that thrive in subsurface soil horizons. mBio 10(5): 1-14 doi: 10.1128/mBio.01318-19
Dijkstra, Paul, Elena Salpas, Dawson Fairbanks, Erin Miller, Shannon B. Hagerty, Kees Jan van Groenigen, Bruce A. Hungate, Jane C. Marks, George Koch and Egbert Schwartz (2015). High carbon use efficiency in soil microbial communities is related to balanced growth, not storage compound synthesis. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 89:35-43 doi:10.1016/j.soilbio.2015.06.021
Fairbanks, Dawson, Chance Muscarella, Craig Rasmussen, Jon Chorover, Virginia Rich and Rachel Gallery. Trade-offs in microbial functional traits drive nitrogen flux during snowmelt in a high-elevation mixed conifer forest catchment. Prepared for submission
Fairbanks, Dawson, Christopher Shepard, Margretta Murphy, Jon Chorover, Virginia Rich and Rachel Gallery (2020). Depth and topographic controls on extracellular enzyme activity post-wildfire at the Jemez River Basin Critical Zone Observatory. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 148:107844 doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2020.107844
Dove, Nicholas, Keshav Arogyaswamy, Sharon Billings, Jon K. Bothoff, Chelsea J. Carey, Caitlin Cisco, Jared L. DeForest, Dawson Fairbanks, Noah Fierer, Rachel Gallery, Jason P. Kaye, Kathleen A. Lohse, Mia R. Maltz, Emilio Mayora, Jennifer Pett-Ridge, Wendy H. Yang, Stephen C. Hart, Emma L. Aronson (2020). Continental-scale patterns of extracellular enzyme activity in the subsoil: an overlooked reservoir of microbial activity. Environmental Research Letters 15:1040a1 doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abb0b3
Brewer, Tess, Emma L. Aronson, Keshav Arogyaswamy, Sharon A. Billings, Jon K. Botthoff, Ashley N. Campbell, Nicholas C. Dove, Dawson Fairbanks, Rachel E. Gallery, Stephen C. Hart, Jason Kaye, Gary King, Geoffrey Logan, Kathleen A. Lohse, Mia R. Maltz, Emilio Mayorga, Caitlin O’Neill, Sarah M. Owens, Aaron Packman, Jennifer Pett-Ridge, Alain F. Plante, Daniel D. Richter, Whendee L. Silver, Wendy H. Yang, Noah Fierer (2019). Ecological and genomic attributes of novel bacterial taxa that thrive in subsurface soil horizons. mBio 10(5): 1-14 doi: 10.1128/mBio.01318-19
Dijkstra, Paul, Elena Salpas, Dawson Fairbanks, Erin Miller, Shannon B. Hagerty, Kees Jan van Groenigen, Bruce A. Hungate, Jane C. Marks, George Koch and Egbert Schwartz (2015). High carbon use efficiency in soil microbial communities is related to balanced growth, not storage compound synthesis. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 89:35-43 doi:10.1016/j.soilbio.2015.06.021
Fairbanks, Dawson, Chance Muscarella, Craig Rasmussen, Jon Chorover, Virginia Rich and Rachel Gallery. Trade-offs in microbial functional traits drive nitrogen flux during snowmelt in a high-elevation mixed conifer forest catchment. Prepared for submission
Professional Organizations
Member, International Society for Microbial Ecology
Member, American Geophysical Union
Member, Ecological Society of America
Member, Soil Ecological Society
Member, American Geophysical Union
Member, Ecological Society of America
Member, Soil Ecological Society