OOS 46 - Approaches to Studying Zoogeochemistry

Organizer(s)

• EF

  Elizabeth Forbes

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

Co-Organizer(s)

• DO

  Devyn Orr, PhD

  Postdoctoral Research Ecologist
  USDA ARS, United States
• KF

  Kristy Ferraro

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

Animals provide important ecosystem services, and research increasingly indicates one of those services includes regulating biogeochemical cycles.

The study of zoogeochemistry is inherently interdisciplinary, encompassing ecosystem ecology, community ecology, animal ecology, landscape ecology, stoichiometry, and biogeochemsitry. As a result, successful zoogeochemical studies must rely on a range of tools from across these disciplines within ecology to assess the biogeochemical impact of animals.

This session will demonstrate a variety of tools and methods available to zoogeochemists to identify and quantity animal-mediated impacts on biogeochemical cycles. The beginning of the session provides a general overview of how zoogeochemical research can integrate the disparate fields of animal movement ecology, biogeochemistry, and ecosystem ecology to better study the role of animals in biogeochemical studies. Following this opening, we will have five talks that demonstrate a range of different tools and methods available to ecologists. These will include classic exclosure experiments, network analysis of different kinds of animal data like interaction and movement across landscapes, agent-based modeling, marine and aquatic empirical data collection and how they differ, and classic ecosystem modeling adapted to include animals of different sizes and ranges. Together these talks will provide a holistic perspective on how to approach zoogeochemical studies in the field. Our aim is that they will also open up conversation amongst attendees who practice zoogeochemistry or are hoping to conceptualize their research from a zoogeochemical lens. By providing concrete examples of the many kinds of ways in which zoogeochemistry can be studied, we will demonstrate the possibilities for collaboration across disciplines within ecology as well as the adoption of new methods by individual ecologists.

Presentations:

• 3:30 PM – 3:45 PM PDT

  A Roadmap to Quantifying Zoogeochemical Impacts of Animals on the Move
  

  Presenting Author: Kristy Ferraro – Yale School of the Environment

  Co-author: Diego Ellis-Soto – Yale University

  Co-author: Matteo Rizzuto – Yale University

  Co-author: Emily Briggs – Yale University

  Co-author: Julia D. Monk – University of California Berkeley

  Co-author: Oswald J. Schmitz – Yale School of the Environment
• 3:45 PM – 4:00 PM PDT

  Trout introductions alter catchment nutrient retention via mediation of cross-habitat subsidies
  

  Presenting Author: Caroline H. Owens – University of California, Santa Barbara

  Co-author: Michelle J. Lee – UCSB

  Co-author: Hillary Young – University of California Santa Barbara Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology
• 4:00 PM – 4:15 PM PDT

  Integrating network and meta-ecosystem theories to study zoogeochemistry
  

  Presenting Author: Shawn J. Leroux – Memorial University of Newfoundland

  Co-author: Oswald J. Schmitz – Yale School of the Environment
• 4:15 PM – 4:30 PM PDT

  Modeling the zoogeochemical effects of herbivores on ecosystem carbon cycles
  

  Presenting Author: Matteo Rizzuto – Yale University

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

  Co-author: Oswald J. Schmitz – Yale School of the Environment
• 4:30 PM – 4:45 PM PDT

  Ecological Function of Large Cetaceans in Marine Ecosystems
  

  Presenting Author: Joe Roman – University of Vermont
• 4:45 PM – 5:00 PM PDT

  Integrating animal body size and dynamic decision making into the study of animal-driven nutrient distribution - insights gained through mechanistic modelling.
  

  Presenting Author: Elizabeth le Roux – Aarhus University

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

  Co-author: Erick Lundgren, Dr – Aarhus University

  Co-author: Yadvinder Malhi, CBE FRS – Environmental Change Institute, School of Geography and Environment, University of Oxford