Peatland and wetland microbial ecology

Our project is part of large-scale sequencing effort to characterize the fungal, bacterial and archaeal communities in over 100 peatlands around the world (Global Peatland Microbiome Project). The aim is to understand biogeographic patterns of peatland microbes and to identify relationships of microbial communities with plant communities, peat chemistry and carbon gas flux.

Collaborators: Dr Samantha Grover (RMIT), Dr Jen Wood (La Trobe), Jamie Lamit (Syracuse U) et al.

In this project, we will assess if these blue carbon ecosystems have a unique "microbial signature" and how it relates to microbial function and carbon dynamics. This work is part of a larger ARC Discovery Project. I am also leading Blue Carbon Lab's involvement in the FunAqua project - an international collaborative research effort to document the drivers of global aquatic fungal diversity.

Collaborators: Prof. Peter Macreadie (Deakin), Dr Stacey Trevathan-Tackett (Deakin), Dr Candice Lumibao (Texas A&M) et al.