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Current and Recent Research Projects 

Colorado Rocky Mountains

Soil Respiration and Microbial Diversity in a Subalpine Forest

The Lipson laboratory studies the importance of soil microbial community composition in determining ecosystem respiration, particularly under winter snow packs.  Our study site is a subalpine forest, dominated by Abies lasiocarpa (subalpine fir), Pinus contorta (lodgepole pine), and Picea engelmanii (Engelmann spruce). This work is being done in collaboration with researchers at the University of Colorado.

(Funding for this project was provided by NSF grant IBN-0212267)

View along Niwot Ridge, with subalpine forest in foreground, peak in back

 Visit the Niwot Ridge Ameriflux website

Seasonal dynamics of microbial community structure and function in an Alpine dry meadow ecosystem

Our studies have shown that microbes in alpine dry meadow soils undergo dramatic seasonal dynamics in biomass, activity and community structure, and that these dynamics are integral to the alpine N cycle. We have also discovered that alpine soils harbor novel microbial communities, including the previously undescribed bacterial candidate division, 

SPAM

 The Saddle, an alpine meadow at 3,500 meters in elevation Visit the Niwot Ridge LTER website

selected publications resulting from this work:

(full publications list)
Lipson D.A., Monson R.K., Schmidt S.K., Weintraub M.N. (2008) The trade-off between growth rate and yield in microbial communities and the consequences for under-snow soil respiration in a high elevation coniferous forest. Biogeochemistry (in press) DOI: 10.1007/s10533-008-9252-1

Lipson D.A. (2007) Relationships between Temperature Responses and Bacterial Community Structure along Seasonal and Altitudinal Gradients. FEMS Microbiology Ecology 59:418-427

Monson* R.K., D.L. Lipson*, S.P. Burns, A.A. Turnipseed, A.C. Delany, M.W. Williams, S.K. Schmidt (2006) Forest soil respiration controlled by winter climate variation and microbial community composition. Nature 439:711-714 (* these authors contributed equally)
Lipson, D.A., and Schmidt, S.K. (2004) Seasonal Changes in an Alpine Soil Bacterial Community. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 70: 2867-2879