Underground Explorers

A relic of California's past and part of the so-called Galápagos of North America, Santa Cruz Island (SCI) of the Channel Islands is home to diverse flora and fauna that inhabit varied vegetation habitats. Though several studies have investigated the island's aboveground population dynamics, few studies have explored the underground soil microbial communities – and recent reports have shown that the waters surrounding the island are polluted with microplastics, which may disperse via sea spray and endanger plant and soil communities. In light of this information, it is important to determine whether microplastics impact terrestrial plant and soil communities. To this end, our team will sample soils from diverse habitats that span elevational gradients and profile their microplastic and microbial community composition. This study will therefore detail how soil microbial communities change across various abiotic and biotic factors, providing not only a detailed inventory of microbial community responses to microclimate changes but also the first glimpse of microplastic dispersal potential from sea-to-land transitions.