Sarah J. Fansler

Affiliation

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Biography

After completing degree work at Washington State University, Sarah J. Fansler’s research at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory addressed conceptual frameworks linking microbial community membership, properties, and processes with the environment and emergent function. Research methods include applying microbial 16S rRNA with qPCR to help identify relationships between cumulative properties of a microbial community (e.g., microbial membership, community assembly properties, and biogeochemical rates), environmental features (e.g., organic matter thermodynamics), and emergent ecosystem function. Her team’s primary aim was to evaluate the hypothesized relationships that comprise the conceptual framework and contrast outcomes from the whole and putatively active bacterial and archaeal communities.