Here, she communicated her research findings to the public as part of the University of Arizona Carson Scholars Science Communication program.

Noelle had the opportunity to present the preliminary findings of her warming experiment at the  International Symposium on Microbial Ecology in August 2016.

Ever thought about how deep life extends into the Earth's crust? That is one of the questions our CZO is exploring after the successful completion of a deep drilling expedition in northern New Mexico (picture at bottom). We are just beginning to discover how deep the surface single extends into the critical zone, the life-giving region on terrestrial earth that ranges from the bottom of aquifers to the tops of trees. These subsurface regions are extremely oligotrophic, meaning they are limited in nutrient and energy inputs. However, microbial life does exist here, and we are using special protocols to extract DNA from rock cores collected from these sensitive deep subsurface samples. 

Dawson returned a month ago from a successful training visit as part of the CZO SAVI International Scholars award to visit Kirsten Küsel's geomicrobiology group in Jena Germany. There she learned about how to process and extract DNA from core samples using protocols developed in their lab, allowing better cross-comparisons between sites. The goal was to limit contamination of samples and to successfully obtain DNA from these extremely low DNA environments.

Dawson also gave a talk discussing some of the exciting wildfire research our CZO has been doing, further fostering international exchange of research ideas. She also visited the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry learning about some of the exciting research being conducted there exploring deep subsurface carbon cycling using stable isotopes. She also participated in a 4 day field expedition learning techniques to sample water from deep aquifers. A huge thank you to the host institute and looking forward to future interactions, exchange, and research collaborations. 

The School of Earth and Environmental Science's Earth Week Research Symposium was last week March 31st & April 1st and was full of Research from the Gallery Lab!

Maggie Murphy (masters student) presented her work with the Critical Zone Observatory entitled: "Dynamics of Soil Microbial Community Nitrogen Cycling in a Post-Wildfire Catchment."

Cait Boyer (undergraduate research assistant) presented her work with the Critical Zone Observatory entitled: "Landscape position controls on microbial and soil properties in a high-elevation sub-alpine catchment."

Noelle Espinosa (PhD student) presented her work entitled: "Response of soil enzymes to a temperature manipulation experiment in a semiarid ecosystem." Her poster won first place for the graduate School of Natural Resources symposium.

Jennifer Hansen (undergraduate research assistant) presented her work entitled: "Examining pH and soil carbon in forest soil affected by fire." Her poster won second place for the undergraduate School of Natural Resources symposium.

Dawson Fairbanks (PhD student, not pictured) gave a talk on her work with the Critical Zone Observatory entitled: "Microbial Biogeochemistry in the Jemez River Basin Critical Zone Observatory."

Congratulations to all the great work and well-received research presentations!

Congratulations to Jenn Hanson, who placed 17th, and the UA team who placed 3rd overall in the 2016 Undergraduate Range Management Exam in Corpus Christi, TX! 

Explore the invisible lives that rule our world, and how, like those creatures, we all follow our own meandering path towards purpose in life in this video created by graduate students Becca Brunner (UC Berkeley), Liz Kimbrough (Tulane), and Ben Abts during the 2016 OTS Graduate Course "Field Ecology: Skills for Science and Beyond."

The student-led publication from our RNR 696A: Ecoinformatics course, using data from the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) and the infrastructure of the iPlant Collaborative, is published in PLOS ONE - article below  http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0135352

UANews piece by Shelley Littin ​ 

Martha Gerbhardt successfully defended her Master's looking at plant amendment effects on native plant re-establishment in arid lands. Congratulations Martha!
Spring 2015

Congratulation to Gayle Purdy who recently graduated with her Master's in Applied Biosciences with an emphasis in Industrial Microbial Biotechnology. She will be heading to Purdue university in Lafayette.