|
CONSERVATION AND SUSTAINABLE USE OF SOIL
BIODIVERSITY:
PREDICTING SOIL BIODIVERSITY PATTERNS UNDER CLIMATE CHANGE
June 4-6, 2008, Colorado State University
Given the current era of unprecedented anthropogenic change to soils
(erosion, desertification, etc) and biodiversity loss, as well as
other global changes, an urgent question facing scientists and decision-makers
is: “What are the patterns of below-ground diversity, are
all taxa essential for ecosystem functioning now, and how might
this change in the future?” This is of considerable importance
when we recognize that >90% of the energy that flows through
an ecosystem eventually passes through below ground food webs and
that more species live in soil than above ground.
This small international conference will address two basic ecological
questions: How are hot- and cold-spots of soil biodiversity (the
regions of highest and lowest diversity) distributed? And, can we
predict how these patterns will be altered with global change? Soil
organisms are considered to be critical to the provision of ecosystem
services such as soil fertility and carbon storage. Thus, answers
to these questions have relevance for many aspects of sustaining
our planet.
The goals of the conference are:
1) To identify the current knowledge of patterns of soil biodiversity
across the landscape;
- how can recent advances in biodiversity assessment
(e.g. molecular techniques) benefit our understanding of below-ground
diversity?
- what tools, techniques, and global initiatives (soils, biodiversity,
sustainability) are underway that soil biodiversity might benefit
from or contribute to?
2) To identify the current knowledge of drivers of
soil biodiversity;
- how might soil biodiversity respond to climate
change scenarios across different ecosystems?
- does soil biodiversity matter to long term sustainability and
if so does it matter in all cases/environments or can we predict
where it is most important?
3) To identify research needs, syntheses and priority
global experiments
- how is this best done? by region, by product (e.g. biofuel),
by soil type, or by subject? Are there groups or disciplines we
should collaborate with?
- how do we provide information to policy makers and scientists?
4) To summarize findings of the conference in a paper for Frontiers
in Ecology and the Environment or other appropriate journal.
-----------------
CONSERVATION AND SUSTAINABLE USE OF SOIL BIODIVERSITY:
PREDICTING SOIL BIODIVERSITY PATTERNS UNDER CLIMATE CHANGE
PROGRAM
Tuesday, June 3 Arrive at hotel in
afternoon or evening.
7:30pm Meet in lobby of hotel, walk to Cafe Vino for
Dinner
Wednesday, June 4 All meetings will
be held in NREL, Natural Environmental Sciences Building, 2nd Floor
8:30am Welcome – Diana Wall (Room B215)
Dr. James Cooney, Associate Provost and Director
of International Programs, CSU
Dr. Lee Sommers, Interim Dean, College of Agriculture, Former
President of Soil Science Society of America
8:45 – 9:15am – Conference Introduction
Need for Conference, Global Soil Biodiversity Networks,
Policy Implications, Tasks and Outcomes needed (Diana Wall)
9:15 - 10:00am Keynote Address
"Learning from Other Interdisciplinary Biodiversity
Initiatives" (Paul Hebert)
10:00am – Coffee Break
10:30am- 11:15am Group discussion (Paul Hebert, Lead)
- how can recent advances in biodiversity assessment
(e.g. DNA barcoding) benefit our understanding of below-ground
diversity?
- what tools and techniques are available and what global biodiversity
initiatives are underway that soil biologists might benefit from
or contribute to?
11:15-12:00pm Workshop Goals and Charge
12:00-1:30pm Lunch at NREL
1:30-5:00pm Working
Groups:
Working Group 1 Patterns of below-ground diversity
(Room B215)
Questions – Are there soil biodiversity patterns at regional and
global scales? Is there evidence for soil biodiversity patterns
for certain/all taxa? Are there hot spots and cold spots of biodiversity
regionally or globally? Are these linked to ecosystem functions
and services such as carbon sequestration, trace gas production,
nitrogen cycling? Is below-ground biodiversity redundant? If so,
does it matter if some species/functional groups/ traits are lost?
Can we predict the consequences? How? Is there a need for conservation?
How do we maximize knowledge acquisition? Who (organizations, scientific
groups) will use, or benefit from, this information?
Working Group 2 Drivers of soil biodiversity and the
consequences of global climate change (Room B224)
Questions – What are the drivers of soil biodiversity patterns?
How will climate change affect soil biodiversity patterns and drivers?
What do we know about how climate change affects soil biodiversity
patterns regionally and globally? What are the critical feedbacks
to above-ground ecosystem processes and services? How will these
be affected by climate change? Can we predict the likelihood of
invasive species (including human and plant pathogens, pests, herbivore)
and their effects on food webs? Are there vulnerable species that
critically influence processes? Can we develop scenarios for climate
change alterations of soil biodiversity at some level (species,
functional group)? Is there a need for conservation of some soils?
Do we conserve/manage for all species assemblages in a soil or instead
focus on vulnerable species? What would we recommend to the Convention
on Biological Diversity? Who (organizations, scientific groups)
will use, or benefit from, this information?
3:00 - 3:30pm Coffee Break (Room B215)
6:30pm – Beer and Barbecue at Diana Wall’s house
Thursday, June 5
8:30am - 9:00pm Plenary and objectives for day (Room
B215)
Working groups report
9:00am - 12:00pm Working Group Discussion and Writing (Rooms B215,
B224)
10:00am – Coffee Break
12:00 -1:30pm Lunch at McAlister’s
1:30 – 3:00pm Plenary – Group reports and Discussion
(Room B215)
Finalize Working Group Reports
3:00 - 3:30pm Coffee Break (Room B215)
3:30 – 5:30pm Discussion of future soil biodiversity
research needs:
- ecology
- regional and global biodiversity
- government and international policies
- resource management
- identifying required syntheses and priority global experiments
7:00pm - Conference Dinner – Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant
Friday, June 6
8:30 – 11:30am (Room B215)
Discussion on Conference Outcomes, Priorities for
the future of soil biodiversity studies, the creation of a Global
Soil Biodiversity Network, and the future of information sharing
(and funding) amongst soil invertebrate scientists and other networks:
and integration of findings for the CBD, Desertification and Agriculture.
Communication to policy makers and scientists
11:30am - 1:00pm Lunch at NREL
1:00pm onwards – Participants leave, and remaining
participants finalize documents.
4:30pm - Beer at Avos
6:30pm - Dinner at Coopersmith’s
Working Group 1 – Lijbert Brussaard, Leader
1. Byron Adams
2. Ed Ayres
3. Valerie Behan-Pelletier
4. Dave Coleman
5. Gerlinde De Deyn
6. Stuart Grandy
7. Paul Hebert
8. Karen Seaver
9. Volkmar Wolters
Working Group 2 – Richard Bardgett, Leader
1. Edmundo Barrios
2. Richard Bardgett
3. Nancy Collins Johnson
4. Ian Hogg
5. John Moore
6. David Porco
7. Breana Simmons
8. Ashley Sparrow
9. Tony Trofymow
|
