Understanding how the rhizosphere microbiome influences soil nitrogen (N) transformations can inform management decisions that promote bioenergy crop productivity under low-N conditions. Here, we coupled amplicon sequencing with soil physiochemical and enzymatic parameters to understand how rhizosphere microbial communities mediate N-transformations under low- and high- N conditions. We collected rhizosphere soils from switchgrass (P. virgatum), restored prairie, and undisturbed grassland across five locations in the Great Lakes Region, two fertilization regimes, and three growing seasons (2016- 2018).
This research was funded by the Biological Systems Science Division, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) (grant number DE-FOA-0001207). The field sites are maintained by the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (DE-SC0018409 and DE-FC02-07ER64494).