Just as the microorganisms in the human gut play a crucial role to our well-being, microorganisms in forests are essential to forest stability. 

Researchers at the University of Idaho are working to understand exactly how those microorganisms respond when faced with stressors, such as drought and wildfires, and what their role could be in helping trees survive. Their research could influence forest management practices and resilience in the face of climate change, principal investigator Tara Hudiburg told the Sun. 

Hudiburg, who is leading the project, is a professor in the university’s forest, rangeland and fire science department. This year she and her research team received a six-year, $15 million grant from the National Science Foundation to study how microorganisms in Idaho forests respond to stress and how they rely on each other to survive.

The microbiome, or the community of microorganisms such as fungi, bacteria and viruses, exists in any given place. They’re in the soil. They’re in the leaves. They’re in the water, and just about everywhere else.

The project – coined EMBER, or the Embedding Molecular Biology in Ecosystem Research – can help scientists and forest managers better understand which of those microorganisms can help tree species endure harsh conditions under a warming climate. 

What does the research look like?

What’s unique about this project is its focus on coniferous forests. In Idaho, common conifers include ponderosa pines, Western red cedars and Douglas firs. 

Previous agricultural studies show how microorganisms can help plants deal with toxicity in the soil or on leaves, Hudiburg said, but there are no studies showing how microorganisms help coniferous trees adapt to drought and wildfire – all of which are common in the West, she said. 

Hudiburg said the research also addresses some of the failed tree planting projects conducted by nonprofits and environmental organizations across the world.

“With less snowpack, you get less melting time when trees need water – especially the seedlings because they don’t have those deep roots yet, and so they’re failing,” Hudiburg said. “You can’t just plant them and leave.”

The research is also unique because it incorporates scientists from different backgrounds.

The EMBER research team includes professors, undergraduate and graduate students in the biology, chemistry, forest science and soil science departments. They will manipulate drought and wildfire conditions on coniferous trees near Moscow.

The EMBER researchers began the project in May by building structures around the trees to shield the soil from water, mimicking drought conditions. Throughout the drought simulation, they will collect samples of different tree parts, including leaves, roots, and wood, as well as the soil beneath the trees, to identify which microorganisms remain present in the harsh conditions. In three years, they will conduct a controlled burn of the trees, with assistance from wildland fire professionals and collect additional samples to see which microorganisms survive the wildfire simulation. In six years, the team will apply for another grant to continue the research. 

By eventually understanding and matching microorganisms that help trees resist drought and wildfires, Hudiburg said forest managers could maintain healthier forests, which are natural mitigators of climate change. That’s because trees store more carbon dioxide than grass, their dark colors absorb more heat than other surfaces, and they provide humidity to an area, Hudiburg said.

“You could start actually manipulating a little bit, just like we do with agriculture,” she said. “You could plant tree seedlings with their bacterial symbionts, maybe spray (bacteria) on their leaves. Everything we do should be pushing us in a direction towards where we can at least help managers, landowners and restoration efforts be more successful.” 

As global temperatures continue to rise, Peter Goebel, a Ph.D. student in environmental science involved in the project, told the Sun that this research will help guide forest managers on what to prioritize to maintain forest health.

“If we really want to … get a grip on climate change, we have to put in the money, resources and the time to understand how they’re affecting ecosystems and find and pinpoint the exact areas where management will do the most,” Goebel said. “Does that mean we need to focus on the trees? Does that mean we need to focus on microbes? I feel like that’s what this project really gets to.”

The professors leading the EMBER project believe its results could bridge the gap between those concerned about climate change and skeptics.

Laurel Lynch, the coprincipal investigator of the project and an assistant professor at University of Idaho’s Department of Soil and Water Systems, grew up in Alaska in the 1990s and understands the impact extractive industries have on local economies. She told the Sun that while she has sympathy for those industries, she believes climate change provides opportunities for innovation and economic growth. 

“Climate change is not ideal,” Lynch said. “No one wants to be here, but there are so many new opportunities that this challenge is presenting too. New trades will develop. For me, part of this is focusing on opportunities rather than kind of the doomsday spiral.”

“If you work in an extractive industry, that’s your livelihood, so there’s a huge vested human interest in pretending this isn’t happening,” Lynch said. “We can’t think about or conceptualize climate change or think about adapting or mitigating climate change without considering how we’re impacting the microbiome,” she said.

Klas Udekwu, an assistant professor of microbiology at the University of Idaho, said the project will bridge the political divide by providing more knowledge.

“The more knowledge we can infuse into the discussion, and the more trans disciplinary that discussion becomes, the better the chances that even those who don’t believe in climate change might start to see the connections and implications,” he said.

Blending modern science with Indigenous knowledge

In addition to research, part of the project will incorporate community outreach. EMBER will partner with youth in the Coeur d’Alene Tribe and the Bonneville Environmental Foundation to include Indigenous forest management practices. 

“It’s a really great opportunity because it coincides with us trying to grapple with the same issues that EMBER is meant to address, like higher intensity fires that you know could do a lot more damage to trees than lower historic fires. And how can we manage all of that?” Laura Laumatia, the environmental programs manager at the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, said in a phone interview. 

Laumatia said the Coeur d’Alene Tribe has thousands of years of cultural burning experience, and the study is an opportunity to blend traditional Indigenous knowledge with modern science.

“The forest of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe has plenty of the focal species involved in the study that there’s an opportunity to involve tribal youth especially in citizen-science type work and gathering data,” she said.

Third time’s a charm for National Science Foundation grant

This year was Hudiburg and her colleagues’ third time applying for the National Science Foundation’s Biology Integration Institute grant. The grant is for research that spans multiple disciplines within and beyond biology, according to its website. 

After submitting three different versions of a study, she and her team finally received the grant. 

“We really didn’t have that engaged molecular and microbiology team before,” Hudiburg said about her previous submissions. “I would say two-thirds of the research is now at a much smaller scale, with a lab, genetics and evolution focus versus the ecosystem scale.”

To receive a grant from the Biology Integration Institute is extremely rare, Lynch said. The EMBER project is one of 31 groups who has received a grant since the program launched in late 2019.

“We had to go pretty far outside of our comfort zone and start talking to people we’ve never interacted with before scientifically,” Lynch said in a press release. 

However, Lynch told the Sun she is excited to see how other scientists will interpret their data, a highlight of the integrative approach to this research.

“We could be looking at the exact same data set and pull out or find different parts of it that could be interesting,” she said.