Primary Convener:
Elsa Abs, LSCE Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement

Convener:
Emily Graham, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Edward Brzostek, West Virginia University
Laurel Lynch, University of Idaho
Ulas Karaoz, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Early Career Convener:
Danielle Berardi, University of Wyoming

Chair:
Elsa Abs, UC Irvine
Danielle Berardi, University of Wyoming
Ulas Karaoz, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Emily Graham, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Edward Brzostek, West Virginia University
Laurel Lynch, University of Idaho

Microorganisms are central to soil carbon persistence, nutrient availability, and plant–soil interactions, yet their role in biogeochemical cycles remains difficult to represent in models. Microbial-explicit models often project different carbon and nutrient dynamics than models without microbial processes, but their advancement is limited by data gaps, parameterization challenges, and scaling uncertainty. This session will unite experimentalists, observational scientists, and modelers to examine how microbial traits, diversity, and interactions—from rhizosphere to aggregate to landscape—shape biogeochemical cycles under climate change and disturbance. We welcome contributions on scalable measurement approaches (e.g., sensor networks, remote sensing), integration of omics data and genotype–phenotype mapping with microbial-explicit models, and cross-system comparisons between terrestrial and marine environments. Topics include co-designed experiments to test predictions, strategies for integrating diverse data streams, and balancing model complexity with predictive power. By fostering interdisciplinary dialogue, we aim to identify unifying principles of nutrient cycling and advance microbial-explicit biogeochemical models.

Index Terms
0414 Biogeochemical cycles, processes, and modeling
0428 Carbon cycling
0465 Microbiology: ecology, physiology and genomics
0486 Soils|pedology

Suggested Itineraries:
Climate Change and Global Policy
Biochemistry

Neighborhoods:
3. Earth Covering