Improved understanding of the subsurface nitrogen cycle using trait-based microbial modeling

The availability of nitrogen underpins ecosystem performance and limitation constrains the carbon cycle (including primary production and respiration). Critical pathways within the nitrogen cycle, including input (fixation), cycling between plant-available pools (nitrification) and gaseous loss via denitrification are mediated by diverse guilds of microorganisms. With a focus on nitrogen fixation, I will describe approaches for representing different pathways of the nitrogen cycle as a function of the physiological traits and trade-offs. I will further discuss the use of genomic and metagenomic data sets to evaluate and parameterize trait space, and the use of diverse datasets for benchmarking trait-based models.