Symposium
Kristy Ferraro
PhD Candidate
Yale School of the Environment
New Haven, Connecticut, United States
Elizabeth Forbes
postdoctoral fellow
Yale School of the Environment
Santa Barbara, Connecticut, United States
Devyn Orr, PhD
Postdoctoral Research Ecologist
USDA ARS, United States
The roles animals play in structuring the ecosystems they occur in have long fascinated ecologists. However recent work has demonstrated the strong impacts that animals of all sizes have in moderating biogeochemical cycles, as well as how they connect otherwise-disparate ecosystems via their movement on small and large spatial scales. Through processes of consumption, defecation, death, trampling, and other animal-ecosystem interactions, animals can alter nutrient cycling and storage. The study of these interactions, which provides additional motivation for the conservation of biodiversity across the globe, has recently been termed zoogeochemistry.
Zoogoechemistry ecompasses a broad range of disciplines, including animal movement ecology, ecosystem ecology, remote sensing, landscape ecology, animal and plant stoichiometry, rangeland ecology, ecological modeling, biodiversity-ecosystem function, and, of course, biogeochemistry. Those working in zoogeochemistry actively seek to bridge these disparate disciplines to better understand the functional impacts of animals on their ecosystems.
This symposium will highlight the pivotal work of several of those ecologists who have worked to define, then shape the growing field of zoogeochemistry. Each will present on their own work, and how they personally came to frame it within a zoogeochemistry lens. They will, collectively, also describe when and how the field was established; its current state; the challenges they and others have experienced in pursuing this kind of integrative ecology; and discuss next steps for the field. The discussion portion of the symposium will be a crucial component of the session, during which attendees will be able to contribute to a conversation about these very topics, their own experiences pursuing a zoogeochemical perspective on their work, the advantages they see in gathering under the umbrella of zoogeochemistry, and more. Given the many disciplines the field ecompasses and its integrative approach, this will be a session for all
Presenting Author: Oswald J. Schmitz – Yale School of the Environment
Presenting Author: Amanda L. Subalusky – Univeristy of Florida
Presenting Author: Amanda Koltz – University of Texas at Austin / NASA
Presenting Author: Yadvinder Malhi, CBE FRS – Environmental Change Institute, School of Geography and Environment, University of Oxford