Julia W. Neilson

University of Arizona

Author Statistics

Papers

Citation

H-Index

i-10 index

Research Trends

Author Order

Document Type

Co-Authors

Raina M. Maier

University of Arizona

Jon Chorover

University of Arizona

Robert A. Root

University of Arizona

Antje Legatzki

Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

Barry M. Pryor

University of Arizona

Antônio Alves Meira Neto

Colorado State University

P. A. Troch

University of Arizona

Albert Barberán

University of Arizona

Katerina Dontsova

University of Arizona

Jay Quade

University of Arizona

Cooperative Institutions

University of Arizona

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Oracle (United States)

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

Arizona Science Center

University of Chicago

Dermatology Research Center

University of Minnesota

University of California, Davis

Oregon State University

Author Statistics

Papers

Citation

H-Index

i-10 index

Research Field

Identifying critical microbes in guayule-microbe and microbe-microbe associations

Plant and Soil (2023)

Yongjian Chen David A. Dierig Guangyao Wang Diaa Eldin M. Elshikha Dennis T. Ray

Phylotype

10.1007/s11104-023-06269-z

Cite

Citations (1)

Advancing Understanding of Hydrological and Biogeochemical Interactions in Evolving Landscapes through Controlled Experimentation at the Landscape Evolution Observatory

CRC Press eBooks (2017)

Aditi Sengupta Luke Pangle Till H. M. Volkmann Katerina Dontsova P. A. Troch

84Understanding the multitude of processes, feedback, and interactions among water, microbes, plants, and porous geological media is crucial for obtaining better predictions about the behavior of Earth's critical zone in the face of future climatic conditions. Current studies often suffer from the limitations of the spatial scale in which they are performed. By not considering the effects brought by the heterogeneity while moving from pore to landscape scales, important feedback and integrated behavior may be missed, rendering predicted behavior different from that of the natural systems. The time span in which such experiments are executed might also not be suitable for the observation of phenomena typically occurring over years in natural settings. Studying naturally occurring phenomena in situ carries with it the uncertainty about the initial state of the system, and the fact that observations require destructive sampling, which will interfere with the processes under investigation. The investigation of hydrological and biogeochemical evolution of natural systems is thus a challenging task for Earth scientists. The Landscape Evolution Observatory (LEO), a research facility managed by the University of Arizona and located at Biosphere 2, allows for the interdisciplinary investigation of the evolution of artificial hillslopes containing an initially naive mineral assemblage that will be subjected to controlled climate experiments. The LEO's unique set of instrumentation allows for exceptional observations of energy, water, and carbon fluxes across the three 330 m3 hillslopes. Within the time frame of 10 years of interdisciplinary research, scientists will be able to address important questions related to the interactions among hydrology, geochemistry, and ecology. The LEO project maintains a database open to scientists and practitioners from different domains to address different research questions in a collaborative way. The research done at the LEO has the potential to be a milestone in terrestrial ecosystem research infrastructures.

Biogeochemical Cycle

10.1201/9781315368252-6

Cite

Citations (3)

Seismic origin of the Atacama Desert boulder fields

Geomorphology (2014)

Ari Matmon Jay Quade Christa Placzek David Fink Audrey Copeland

Denudation

Mass wasting

10.1016/j.geomorph.2014.11.008

Cite

Citations (17)

Arid Ecosystem Vegetation Canopy-Gap Dichotomy: Influence on Soil Microbial Composition and Nutrient Cycling Functional Potential

Applied and Environmental Microbiology (2021)

Priyanka Kushwaha Julia W. Neilson Albert Barberán Yongjian Chen Catherine G. Fontana

Increasing temperatures and drought in desert ecosystems are predicted to cause decreased vegetation density combined with barren ground expansion. It remains unclear how nutrient availability, microbial diversity, and the associated functional capacity vary between vegetated-canopy and gap soils. The specific aim of this study was to characterize canopy vs gap microsite effect on soil microbial diversity, the capacity of gap soils to serve as a canopy-soil microbial reservoir, nitrogen (N)-mineralization genetic potential (ureC gene abundance) and urease enzyme activity, and microbial-nutrient pool associations in four arid-hyperarid geolocations of the western Sonoran Desert, Arizona (USA). Microsite combined with geolocation explained 57% and 45.8% of the observed variation in bacterial/archaeal and fungal community composition, respectively. A core microbiome of amplicon sequence variants was shared between the canopy and gap soil communities; however, canopy-soils included abundant taxa that were not present in associated gap communities, thereby suggesting that these taxa cannot be sourced from the associated gap soils. Linear mixed-effects models showed that canopy-soils have significantly higher microbial richness, nutrient content, and organic N-mineralization genetic and functional capacity. Furthermore, ureC gene abundance was detected in all samples suggesting that ureC is a relevant indicator of N-mineralization in deserts. Additionally, novel phylogenetic associations were observed for ureC with the majority belonging to Actinobacteria and uncharacterized bacteria. Thus, key N-mineralization functional capacity is associated with a dominant desert phylum. Overall, these results suggest that lower microbial diversity and functional capacity in gap soils may impact ecosystem sustainability as aridity drives open-space expansion in deserts.

Microsite

Nutrient cycle

Biological soil crust

Cycling

10.1128/aem.02780-20

Cite

Citations (29)

Profiling Bacterial Diversity and Taxonomic Composition on Speleothem Surfaces in Kartchner Caverns, AZ

Microbial Ecology (2012)

Marianyoly Ortiz Julia W. Neilson William M. Nelson Antje Legatzki Andrea Byrne

Speleothem

Acidobacteria

Phylogenetic diversity

Gemmatimonadetes

10.1007/s00248-012-0143-6

Cite

Citations (83)

Characterization of a Bacterial Community in an Abandoned Semiarid Lead-Zinc Mine Tailing Site

Applied and Environmental Microbiology (2008)

Monica O. Mendez Julia W. Neilson Raina M. Maier

ABSTRACT Bacterial diversity in mine tailing microbial communities has not been thoroughly investigated despite the correlations that have been observed between the relative microbial diversity and the success of revegetation efforts at tailing sites. This study employed phylogenetic analyses of 16S rRNA genes to compare the bacterial communities present in highly disturbed, extremely (pH 2.7) and moderately (pH 5.7) acidic lead-zinc mine tailing samples from a semiarid environment with those from a vegetated off-site (OS) control sample (pH 8). Phylotype richness in these communities decreased from 42 in the OS control to 24 in the moderately acidic samples and 8 in the extremely acidic tailing samples. The clones in the extremely acidic tailing sample were most closely related to acidophiles, none of which were detected in the OS control sample. The comparison generated by this study between the bacteria present in extremely acidic tailing and that in moderately acidic tailing communities with those in an OS control soil provides a reference point from which to evaluate the successful restoration of mine tailing disposal sites by phytostabilization.

Revegetation

Acid Mine Drainage

Microcosm

10.1128/aem.02883-07

Cite

Citations (194)

Proteomics Analyses of the Opportunistic PathogenBurkholderia vietnamiensisUsing Protein Fractionations and Mass Spectrometry

BioMed Research International (2011)

Samanthi Wickramasekara Julia W. Neilson Naren Patel Linda Breci Amy E. Hilderbrand

The main objectives of this work were to obtain a more extensive coverage of the Burkholderia vietnamiensis proteome than previously reported and to identify virulence factors using tandem mass spectrometry. The proteome of B. vietnamiensis was precipitated into four fractions to as extracellular, intracellular, cell surface and cell wall proteins. Two different approaches were used to analyze the proteins. The first was a gel‐based method where 1D SDS‐PAGE was used for separation of the proteins prior to reverse phase liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC‐MS/MS). The second method used MudPIT analysis (Multi dimensional Protein Identification Technique), where proteins are digested and separated using cation exchange and reversed phase separations before the MS/MS analysis (LC/LC‐MS/MS). Overall, gel‐based LC‐MS/MS analysis resulted in more protein identifications than the MudPIT analysis. Combination of the results lead to identification of more than 1200 proteins, approximately 16% of the proteins coded from the annotated genome of Burkholderia species. Several virulence factors were detected including flagellin, porin, peroxiredoxin and zinc proteases.

Proteome

Bottom-up proteomics

Shotgun proteomics

10.1155/2011/701928

Cite

Citations (13)

Characterization of Lead Removal from Contaminated Soils by Nontoxic Soil-Washing Agents

Journal of Environmental Quality (2003)

Julia W. Neilson Janick F. Artiola Raina M. Maier

Few effective strategies exist for remediating and restoring metal-contaminated soils. We have evaluated the potential of two environmentally compatible, nondestructive, biological soil-washing agents for remediating aged, lead-contaminated soils. Two contaminated soils were washed with 10 mM rhamnolipid biosurfactant and 5.3% carboxymethyl-β-cyclodextrin (CMCD). The metal removal efficiency of these agents was compared with 10 mM diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (DTPA) and 10 mM KNO3 Lead removal rates by both soil-washing agents exceeded the removal by KNO3, but were an order of magnitude less than removal by the synthetic chelator, DTPA. Analysis of soil extractions revealed that the Pb in the first soil (3780 mg kg−1) was primarily associated with the soluble, exchangeable, oxide, and residual fractions while the Pb in the second soil (23 900 mg kg−1) was found in the soluble, exchangeable, carbonate, and residual fractions. After 10 consecutive washes, rhamnolipid had removed 14.2 and 15.3% of the Pb from the first and second soils, respectively, and CMCD had removed 5 and 13.4% from the same two soils. The Pb removal rate by both agents either increased or was consistent throughout the 10 extractions, indicating a potential for continued removal with extended washing. Significant levels of Cu and Zn in both soils did not prevent Pb removal by either agent. Interestingly, the effectiveness of each agent varied as a function of Pb speciation in the soil. Rhamnolipid was more effective than CMCD in removing Pb bound to amorphous iron oxides, while both agents demonstrated similar potential for removing soluble, exchangeable, and carbonate-bound Pb. Neither agent demonstrated potential for the complete remediation of metal-contaminated soils.

Rhamnolipid

Human decontamination

10.2134/jeq2003.0899

Cite

Citations (20)

5. Bacterial and Archaeal Diversity on Cave Speleothem and Rock Surfaces: A Carbonate Cave Case Study from Kartchner Caverns

De Gruyter eBooks (2015)

Marianyoly Ortiz Julia W. Neilson Antje Legatzki Raina M. Maier

Speleothem

10.1515/9783110339888-007

Cite

Citations (2)

Soil Microbiome Dynamics During Pyritic Mine Tailing Phytostabilization: Understanding Microbial Bioindicators of Soil Acidification

Frontiers in Microbiology (2019)

John D. Hottenstein Julia W. Neilson Juliana Gil-Loaiza Robert A. Root Scott A. White

Challenges to the reclamation of pyritic mine tailings arise from in-situ acid generation that severely constrains the growth of natural revegetation. While acid mine drainage (AMD) microbial communities are well studied under highly acidic conditions, fewer studies document the dynamics of microbial communities that generate acid from pyritic material under less acidic conditions that can allow establishment and support of plant growth. This research characterizes the taxonomic composition dynamics of microbial communities present during a six-year compost-assisted phytostabilization field study in extremely acidic pyritic mine tailings. A complementary microcosm experiment was performed to identify successional community populations that enable the acidification process across a pH gradient. Taxonomic profiles of the microbial populations in both the field study and microcosms reveal shifts in microbial communities that play pivotal roles in facilitating acidification during the transition between moderately and highly acidic conditions. The potential co-occurance of organoheterotrophic and lithoautotrophic energy metabolisms during acid generation suggests the importance of both groups in facilitating acidification. Taken together, this research suggests that key microbial populations associated with pH transitions could be used as bioindicators for either sustained future plant growth or for acid generation conditions that inhibit further plant growth.

Microcosm

Revegetation

Acid Mine Drainage

Bioindicator

Soil acidification

10.3389/fmicb.2019.01211

Cite

Citations (20)