COMPASS-FME is developing a predictive understanding of the causes, mechanisms, and consequences of the shift between aerobic and anaerobic conditions at both saltwater and freshwater terrestrial-aquatic interfaces (TAIs). The long-term vision is to capture ecosystem control points with spatially and temporally appropriate resolution, based on drivers such as sea level rise, lake-level change, and extreme events, and to predict the ensuing impacts to ecosystems. Our team is currently focused on how the frequency and duration of flood events affect TAI ecosystems, propagating through water, sediments, soils, microbes, and plants to change system states.
The U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Biological and Environmental Research under contract DE-AC05-76RL01830