Characterizing the Rates and Fates of Degrading Carbon in the Environment
Profile
Characterizing the Rates and Fates of Degrading Carbon
PI: John Eiler
Research Team: Sarah Zeichner and Lubna Shawar
Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences
Sunlight to Everything and Ecology and Biosphere Engineering Initiative
2023 Explorer grant
This proposal describes an effort to use isotopic structures of large organic molecules, in particular lignin (the structural component of wood) and plastic, to constrain the atomistic mechanisms and rates of their degradation by microbes, fungi and ultraviolet-photolysis, in both laboratory models and the environment.