Berkeley Lab
Bringing Science Solutions to the World

Our Vision

EcoSENSE aims to develop and deploy novel sensing tools and associated analytical and telemetry capabilities to quantify interactions between key environmental factors and biological functioning within ecosystems across scales, from laboratory to testbed to the field.

What is
EcoSENSE?

EcoSENSE develops a suite of novel-sensing technologies and capabilities at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to explore plant-soil-microbe interactions across scales. EcoSENSE capabilities aim to:

The capabilities developed under EcoSENSE will transform our ability to quantify how biology shapes our environment and how our environment regulates biology.

Exploring Environmental-Biological Feedbacks
Across Scales

BioEPIC, a 73,000 square-foot facility being developed  at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, will house research to improve our understanding and prediction of plant-soil-microbe interactions across Earth’s ecosystems. EcoSENSE capabilities:

Our Research

EcoSENSE develops novel sensors and sensing capabilities for Berkeley Lab-led explorations into how watersheds function and the role of soils in the global climate system.

Fiber-optic Distributed Chemical Sensing

Fiber-optic distributed sensing enables key physical, chemical, and biological properties of terrestrial and aquatic systems to be quantified in real-time over scales from cm to km.

Tomographic Electrical Rhizospher Imager (TERI)

Novel, non-invasive, electrical signal based root phenotyping tool

Quantum Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

Quantum NMR will revolutionize our ability to quantify biochemical dynamics at fine-scale across critical gradients such as root-microbe, and microbe-mineral interfaces.

Biogeochemical Remote Sensing with VOCs

Remote sensing of biogeochemical processes with VOCs provides non-invasive quantification of plant and microbial metabolism in terrestrial ecosystems.

Our Experts

Berkeley Lab experts in hydrology, microbiology, biogeochemistry, geophysics, and climate science are pioneering the development of an integrated suite of advanced sensing, data integration, and model simulation capabilities to quantify plant-soil-microbe interactions across scales. They are the individuals behind EcoSense.

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