Microbial traits under selection in a warming world

Kristen M. DeAngelis, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Mallory J. Choudoir and Achala Narayanan, Microbiology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, Luiz A. Domeignoz-Horta, University of Zurich

Microbes drive ecosystem processes, with climate change altering community structure and evolution of adaptative traits. Our work is intended to isolate the microbial traits under adaptation due to climate warming. We are studying microbes from the Harvard Forest soil warming experiment, where soils have been heated 5°C above ambient temperatures for almost 30 years. Model soils highlight the complexities of microbial response to stress, and isolates show bacterial adaptation of traits to chronic warming. Comparative genomics will then allow us to link genomic features to traits adaptation, in an effort to better model microbial dynamics in a warming world.