OOS 3 - The Consequences and Mechanisms of Zoogeochemistry

Organizer(s)

• DO

  Devyn Orr, PhD

  Postdoctoral Research Ecologist
  USDA ARS, United States

Co-Organizer(s)

• KF

  Kristy Ferraro

  PhD Candidate
  Yale School of the Environment
  New Haven, Connecticut, United States
• EF

  Elizabeth Forbes

  postdoctoral fellow
  Yale School of the Environment
  Santa Barbara, Connecticut, United States

Theory has long assumed that biogeochemical cycles are generally and primarily regulated by abiotic processes. However, recent research increasingly indicates that animals have large (often disproportionate to their relative abundance and biomass) impacts on underlying nutrient cycling in ecosystems worldwide, the study of which has been termed "zoogeochemistry". This session seeks to demonstrate the many ways in which animals (specifically large animals) moderate a plethora of biogeochemical cycles across the globe.

Additionally, this session will demonstrate the wide range of mechanisms by which zoogeochemical effects occur: from shaping patterns of nutrient deposition and ecosystem structure via creation of a landscape of fear for prey species; to how physical modifications like trampling, digging, and burrowing can alter nutrient storage and cycling rates in soils; to the lateral transport of nutrients from one ecosystem to another based on an animal’s feeding and range behaviors; to the interspecies interactions that alter the stoichiometric breakdown of prey species’ body tissues and subsequently the system’s rate of organic matter decomposition; and more. The mechanisms by which animals influence ecosystem biogeochemistry are as many and varied as the sizes, behaviors, and physiologies of animals themselves. This session will provide insight into a diverse selection of these mechanisms, thereby illuminating the many whole-ecosystem research questions that can be explored by examining animals’ interactions with their surroundings and the broad importance of this topic across ecological scales.

Presentations:

• 1:30 PM – 1:45 PM PDT

  Modelling zoogeochemistry from local to global scales
  

  Presenting Author: Christopher E. Doughty – Northern Arizona University

  Co-author: Adam Wolf – Eion

  Co-author: Andrew J. Abraham, Dr – Aarhus University
• 1:45 PM – 2:00 PM PDT

  Using zoogeochemistry research to inform natural carbon capture initiatives: a case study of moose density in Newfoundland
  

  Presenting Author: Elizabeth S. Forbes – Yale School of the Environment

  Co-author: Oswald J. Schmitz – Yale School of the Environment

  Co-author: Shawn J. Leroux – Memorial University of Newfoundland

  Co-author: Kelly Caylor – University of California, Santa Barbara
• 2:00 PM – 2:15 PM PDT

  Drivers of sodium deficiency, supplementation, and dispersal by large herbivores
  

  Presenting Author: Ethan S. Duvall – Cornell University

  Co-author: Andrew J. Abraham, Dr – Aarhus University

  Co-author: Louis A. Derry – Cornell University

  Co-author: Christopher E. Doughty – Northern Arizona University

  Co-author: Esteban R. Suárez – USFQ

  Co-author: Alexander S. Flecker – Cornell University
• 2:15 PM – 2:30 PM PDT

  Understanding anthropogenic impacts on zoogeochemistry is essential for ecological restoration – A case study from the Kalahari
  

  Presenting Author: Andrew J. Abraham, Dr – Aarhus University

  Co-author: Chris Doughty – Northern Arizona University

  Co-author: Elizabeth le Roux – Aarhus University

  Co-author: Andrea Webster – University of Pretoria

  Co-author: Ethan S. Duvall – Cornell University

  Co-author: Marcus Clauss – University of Zurich

  Co-author: Erick Lundgren, Dr – Aarhus University

  Co-author: Andre Ganswindt – University of Pretoria
• 2:30 PM – 2:45 PM PDT

  Vicuña diel migration drives nutrient subsidies from wetlands to plains
  

  Presenting Author: Julia D. Monk – University of California Berkeley

  Co-author: Emiliano Donadio – Rewilding Argentina

  Co-author: Pablo F. Gregorio – CONICET

  Co-author: Oswald J. Schmitz – Yale School of the Environment
• 2:45 PM – 3:00 PM PDT

  The zoogeochemistry of soil trampling by large mammalian herbivores: Does moose marching matter?
  

  Presenting Author: Adam Meyer – Memorial University of Newfoundland

  Co-author: Shawn J. Leroux – Memorial University of Newfoundland