Impacts of environmental changes on terrestrial ecosystems

We investigate how climate-driven stressors, including warming, elevated CO₂, O₃, altered soil moisture regimes, and shifting nutrient availability, reshape soil microbial communities and their functional capacity across ecosystems. By integrating field observations and manipulative experiments with multi-omics and biogeochemical measurements, we identify microbial traits that underpin resilience, maintain nutrient cycling, and buffer plants against climate-driven stress.

Papers: Zhang et al. 2024 Zhang et al. 2023 Zhang et al. 2021 Shen et al. 2018

Funding: USDA-CRIS (6070-11000-009-00D; participant), NSF-IOS-PBI (2029168; participant), 2026-1 eBERlight General User (1017594; co-PI)