The goal of this project is to use advanced statistical tools developed by PNNL Signature Discovery Initiative to discover one or more signatures that indicate impaired resilience of the soil carbon (C) biogeochemical system following a system-wide perturbation such as simulated climate change. This research will focus on a reciprocal transplant of soil cores between a hot, dry climate and a cooler, moisture climate. Using informed statistical tools we seek to find signatures that indicates that microbial transformations of soil C have been significantly and negatively altered by the local environmental condition and signatures of diminished microbial resilience following environmental stress. Thus, the EMSL capabilities we seek to support this research are associated with the soil C analytical platforms (total C, total N, FTICR-MS), and the computational capacity (Cascade) to analyze our metagenomic data. The signatures identified in this challenge project will inform a fundamental and predictive understanding of the possible effects of climate change on soils. This will move soil biogeochemistry and ecology towards a more informed understanding of the relationships between C chemistry, microbial community structure and function, and ecosystem perturbations.