Inspire Session
Hybrid Session
Elsa Abs
University of California Irvine
Irvine, California, United States
Moira Hough
Michigan Technological University, United States
Adriana Romero-Olivares
Principle Investigator
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States
Earth system models disagree on the impacts of climate-carbon feedbacks due, in part, to a high degree of uncertainty in the dynamics of soil carbon, the largest organic carbon (C) pool on Earth. Given that soil microbes, as key mediators of biogeochemical cycling, adapt and respond to global change on ecological timescales, could we reduce this uncertainty by representing microbial adaptation in soil ecosystem models? This has been a major challenge because basic microbial eco-evolutionary questions have been overlooked, and thus, remain unanswered. Some critical questions to address are, how is microbial evolution driven by the community composition of soil biodiversity? How many organisms that make up this diversity in fact interact with each other given the complexity of soil spatial structuring? How do these communities respond to disturbances and what is the role of evolution on their responses? How do these evolutionary responses translate to ecosystem-scale impacts? In this session we will discuss ideas of solutions to such challenges in the study of environmental microbial eco-evolutionary response to and effect on ecosystem processes. Our speakers will present a major challenge they have identified and propose a solution to tackle the unanswered aspects of microbial eco-evo effects on ecosystem carbon. Our ultimate goal is to engage all ecologists, including decision makers, future scientists, and educators to collaborate across sectors to better understand the future of Earth’s carbon stocks.
Presenting Author: Serita D. Frey – University of New Hampshire
Presenting Author: Ashish Malik – University of Aberdeen
Presenting Author: Steven D. Allison – University of California, Irvine
Presenting Author: Mario E. Muscarella – University of Alaska Fairbanks
Presenting Author: Arjun Chakrawal – Stockholm University
Presenting Author: Ariane L. Peralta – East Carolina University