Fangqiong Ling

Introduction Click to copy section linkSection link copied! The deep subsurface hosts an estimated 15% of the total biomass on Earth, but its microbial ecology has received relatively little consideration. (1) The huge microbial biomass in aquifers is responsible for the global cycling of critical elements like carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, and phosphorus, but an understanding of human effects on aquifer microbiomes and subsequent changes in nutrient cycling remains limited.

Introduction Click to copy section linkSection link copied! The deep subsurface hosts an estimated 15% of the total biomass on Earth, but its microbial ecology has received relatively little consideration. (1) The huge microbial biomass in aquifers is responsible for the global cycling of critical elements like carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, and phosphorus, but an understanding of human effects on aquifer microbiomes and subsequent changes in nutrient cycling remains limited.

Environmental challenges are increasingly complex. From climate change to nutrient pollution, biodiversity loss, and inequity of environmental quality, pressing issues are moving from local to global and from specific to systemic. (1) Often, such complex challenges can be addressed only by using a truly interdisciplinary approach, such as those adopting a framework of convergence.