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1. Utilizing Soil Density Fractionation to Separate Distinct Soil Carbon Pools

   https://doi.org/10.3791/64759  

   Pierson, Derek; Lajtha, Kate; Peter-Contesse, Hayley; Mayedo, Amy (January 2022, Journal of Visualized Experiments)
2. Traits of soil bacteria predict plant responses to soil moisture

   https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.612jm6455  

   Bolin, Lana; Lau, Jennifer; Lennon, Jay (January 2022, Dryad)

   Microbes can promote beneficial plant and animal responses to abiotic environments, but the ecological drivers of this benefit remain elusive. Here we investigated byproduct benefits, which occur when traits that increase the fitness of one species provide incidental benefits to another species with no direct cost to the provider species. In experimental mesocosms, microbial traits predicted plant responses to soil moisture such that bacteria with self-beneficial traits in drought increased plant early growth, size at reproduction, and chlorophyll concentration under drought, while bacteria with self-beneficial traits in well-watered environments increased these same plant traits in well-watered environments. Thus, microbial traits that promote microbial success in different soil moisture environments also promote plant success in these same environments. Our results show that the concept of byproduct benefits, originally conceived to explain the evolution of cooperation in pairwise mutualisms, also applies to interactions between plants and non-symbiotic soil microbes. Descriptions of the data can be found in the README_Bolin_Lennon_Lau_2022.txt file. 

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3. Traits of soil bacteria predict plant responses to soil moisture

   Bolin LG, Lennon JT (April 2022, Ecology)
4. A soil structure-based modeling approach to soil heterotrophic respiration

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-025-01223-w  

   Jha, Achla; Aburto, Felipe; Calabrese, Salvatore (March 2025, Biogeochemistry)

   Abstract Soil microbial communities play a pivotal role in controlling soil carbon cycling and its climate feedback. Accurately predicting microbial respiration in soils has been challenged by the intricate resource heterogeneity of soil systems. This makes it difficult to formulate mathematical expressions for carbon fluxes at the soil bulk scale which are fundamental for soil carbon models. Recent advances in characterizing and modeling soil heterogeneity are promising. Yet they have been independent of soil structure characterizations, hence increasing the number of empirical parameters needed to model microbial processes. Soil structure, intended as the aggregate and pore size distributions, is, in fact, a key contributor to soil organization and heterogeneity and is related to the presence of microsites and associated environmental conditions in which microbial communities are active. In this study, we present a theoretical framework that accounts for the effects of microsites heterogeneity on microbial activity by explicitly linking heterogeneity to the distribution of aggregate sizes and their resources. From the soil aggregate size distribution, we derive a mathematical expression for heterotrophic respiration that accounts for soil biogeochemical heterogeneity through measurable biophysical parameters. The expression readily illustrates how various soil heterogeneity scenarios impact respiration rates. In particular, we compare heterogeneous with homogeneous scenarios for the same total carbon substrate and microbial biomass and identify the conditions under which respiration in heterogeneous soils (soils having non-uniform distribution of carbon substrate and microbial biomass carbon across different aggregate size classes) differs from homogeneous soils (soils having uniform distribution of carbon substrate and microbial biomass carbon across different aggregate size classes). The proposed framework may allow a simplified representation of dynamic microbial processes in soil carbon models across different land uses and land covers, key factors affecting soil structure. 

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5. Traits of soil bacteria predict plant responses to soil moisture

   https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.3893  

   Bolin, Lana G.; Lennon, Jay T.; Lau, Jennifer A. (December 2022, Ecology)

   Abstract Microorganisms can help plants and animals contend with abiotic stressors, but why they provide such benefits remains unclear. Here we investigated byproduct benefits, which occur when traits that increase the fitness of one species provide incidental benefits to another species with no direct cost to the provider. In a greenhouse experiment, microbial traits predicted plant responses to soil moisture such that bacteria with self‐beneficial traits in drought increased plant early growth, size at reproduction, and chlorophyll concentration under drought, while bacteria with self‐beneficial traits in well‐watered environments increased these same plant traits in well‐watered soils. Thus, microbial traits that promote microbial success in different moisture environments also promote plant success in these same environments. Our results demonstrate that byproduct benefits, a concept developed to explain the evolution of cooperation in pairwise mutualisms, can also extend to interactions between plants and nonsymbiotic soil microbes. 

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