Environmental Internship Program - 2022 Booklet

Sessina Dani ’23
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY
CLIMATE AND
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
PROJECT TITLE
What Controls the
Biodiversity and
Function of Cryptogam
Microbiomes?
ORGANIZATION(S)
Zhang Lab, Department of
Geosciences, Princeton
University
LOCATION(S)
Highlands, North
Carolina; Princeton, New
Jersey; Sherbrooke,
Québec, Canada
MENTOR(S)
Xinning Zhang, Assistant
Professor of Geosciences
and the High Meadows
Environmental Institute,
Romain Darnajoux,
Associate Research
Scholar, Geosciences
I investigated the biotic and abiotic factors
affecting cryptogam biodiversity and function.
We studied their roles in biological nitrogen
availability by measuring different aspects of
cryptogam function, like biological nitrogen
fixation, production of greenhouse gas nitrous
oxide, and component bacteria communities. My
co-interns and I collected field samples across
latitudes and altitudes in Québec, Canada,
and in North Carolina. I had the opportunity
to familiarize myself with various species of
mosses, lichens, and liverwort in the field and
learned about their biome-specific, ecosystemspecific,
and microenvironment-specific
differences. We visited and met researchers
and colleagues at the Université de Sherbrooke,
Highlands Biological Station, and The Watershed
Institute. Back in the lab, we performed
chemical and biological analyses, which we
then processed into quantitative measurements
of cryptogam function. I enjoyed many firsts,
like short-term and long-term project planning
and implementation, a glimpse into highly
interdisciplinary environmental research, and
I developed important critical thinking and
problem-solving skills. I also gained exposure
to environmental research and increased my
knowledge of botany and geochemistry. Now, I
notice cryptogams everywhere, noting all the
same patterns we learned about and observed
this summer.
38
* This internship is connected to the HMEI
Biodiversity Grand Challenges project, “What
Controls the Biodiversity and Function of
Cryptogram Microbiomes.”