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Invited
Participants:
Dr. Byron Adams
- Research Interests:
•Byron Adams is interested in deep (Nematode Tree of Life) and
shallow (speciation & extinction, phylogeography) branches
of phylogenetic trees, and likes to infer process from pattern.
He works with Diana Wall’s group and Ian Hogg on Antarctic Dry
Valley soil invertebrates, trying to get at the various factors
that influence patterns of codistribution and ecosystem functioning.
To explore these problems, he is extending some of the analytical
methods of phylogeography and coevolution to test for correlations
among codistributed biota, including soil chemistry, climate,
and other geophysical variables.
- Suggested Readings:
•Kozak, K. H., Graham, C. H. & Wiens, J. J. (2008) Integrating
GIS-based environmental data into evolutionary biology. Trends
in Ecology & Evolution, 23, 141-148.
•De Mazancourt, C., Johnson, E. & Barraclough, T. G. (2008)
Biodiversity inhibits species' evolutionary responses to changing
environments. Ecology Letters, 11, 380-388.
•Victoriano, P. F., Ortiz, J. C., Benavides, E., Adams, B. J.
& Sites, J. W. (2007) Comparative phylogeography of co-distributed
species of Chilean Liolaemus (Squamata: Tropiduridae) from the
central-southern Andean range. Molecular Ecology, (in
press)
Dr. Edmundo Barrios
- Research Interests:
•Edmundo Barrios conducts multidisciplinary research on the impact
of land use change, agricultural intensification and restoration
of degraded lands on soil biota distribution and soil biological
processes in tropical ecosystems. His studies on decomposition,
soil organic matter dynamics and nutrient cycling have been an
integral part of research efforts towards the biological management
of soil fertility and ecosystem services in tropical agricultural
landscapes. His studies on biological indicators of soil quality
integrate perceptions of local farming communities about plant-soil
interactions. Current research involves the development of land
quality monitoring systems to monitor changes in the provision
of ´soil based´ ecosystem services.
- Suggested Readings:
•Wardle, D.A. (2006) The influence of biotic interactions on soil
biodiversity. Ecology Letters 9, 870-886.
•Barrios, E. (2007) Soil Biota, Ecosystem Services and Land Productivity.
Ecological Economics 64 (2), 269-285.
Dr. Richard Bardgett
- Research Interests:
•Richard Bardgett conducts research on the linkages between plant
and soil communities, especially how soil organisms and their
interactions influence nutrient cycling and the productivity and
diversity of natural and managed plant communities. More recently,
his work has become concerned with understanding how plant-soil
interactions influence ecosystem dynamics, in the context of soil
carbon sequestration. Most of his work is focused on temperate
grasslands, but he also works in other ecosystems, such as those
of arctic and alpine regions, and more recently the tropics.
- Suggested Readings:
•Bardgett, R.D., Yeates, G.W. and Anderson, J.M. (2005) Patterns
and determinants of soil biological diversity. In: Biological
Diversity and Function in Soil, (Edited by Bardgett, R.D., Usher,
M.B., and Hopkins, D.W.), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge,
UK, pp. 100-118
•Cole, L., Buckland, S.M. and Bardgett, R.D. (2008) Responses
of belowground animal communities to stress and disturbance. Soil
Biology and Biochemistry, 40, 505-514.
Dr. Val Behan-Pelletier
- Research Interests:
• Systematics, biodiversity and biogeography of oribatid mites
in all habitats, with a particular focus at present on the Ceratozetoidea
of North America. As species in this superfamily are found in
soil and litter from high arctic to the subtropics, and in canopy,
marine littoral and subaquatic habitats, they are valuable for
biodiversity and biogeographic analysis.
• Predicting changes in oribatid diversity in the Canadian high
arctic with global warming (collaboration with Norwegian and Russian
colleagues). Our contention is that we can predict based on knowledge
of present species distribution, their traits, and the arctic
fossil record.
- Suggested Readings:
•DeDeyn, G. et al. 2008. Plant functional traits and soil carbon
sequestration in contrasting biomes. Ecology Letters,
11: 516–531.
•Maraun, M. et al. 2008. Soil Fauna. In E. Beck et al. (eds),
Gradients in a Tropical Mountain Ecosystem of Ecuador. Ecological
Studies 198.
•Coleman, D.C. and Whitman, W.B. 2005. Linking species richness,
biodiversity and ecosystem function in soil systems. Pedobiologia
49: 479-497.
Dr. Lijbert Brussaard
- Research Interests:
•Biodiversity in agricultural landscapes. Agricultural landscapes
are important for the survival of a great deal of wildland biodiversity,
while the challenge is to make wildland biodiversity more meaningful
for the functioning of agricultural systems and the provision
of ecosystem services. While these notions are becoming widespread,
soil biodiversity is often not considered. This apparent omission
has to be addressed, in particular considering that the above-
and belowground parts of ecosystems may become increasingly decoupled
under climate change. As co-chair of the agroBIODIVERSITY science
committee and network of DIVERSITAS, the international programme
for biodiversity science, I promote the advancement of science
in this exciting area.
•Soil biota - soil structure interrelationships. So-called modern
agricultural management often disturbs the integrity of the soil
community. As a result, the contributions of the larger soil biota,
such as earthworms and termites, to the formation of soil structure
and porosity has diminished. This likely has negative effects
on the build-up and maintenance of soil organic matter. My research
is aimed at quantifying such effects and exploring ways to restore
the activity of this biota. I hypothesize that this may enhance
the use efficiency of water and nutrients in agricultural systems,
but trade-offs in terms of possible increases in the production
of greenhouse gases are also considered.
- Suggested Readings:
•Brussaard et al. 2007. Soil fauna and soil function in the fabric
of the food web. Pedobiologia, 50: 447-462
•Ettema et al. 2002. Spatial soil ecology. TRENDS in Ecology
& Evolution. 17:177-183
•J. Smith et al. 2008. Can arable field margins be managed to
enhance their biodiversity, conservation and functional value
for soil macrofauna? Journal of Applied Ecology. 45:
269-278
Dr. Dave Coleman
- Research Interests:
•Kinetics of decomposition and nutrient cycling in forests and
grasslands, in tropical and temperate climates. Relationships
between decomposition and biodiversity of soil organisms.
•Studies of energetics, nutrient cycling in man-managed agro-ecosystems
and natural ecosystems. Functional roles of roots in the production-decomposition
interface.
•Nutrient cycling and O.M. dynamics in low input and conventional
subtropical and tropical agroecosystems.
- Suggested Readings:
•Adl et al. 2005. Slow recovery of soil biodiversity in sandy
loam soils of Georgia after 25 years of no-tillage management.
Agriculture Ecosystems & Environment. 114:323-334.
•Coleman 2008. From peds to paradoxes: Linkages between soil biota
and their influences on ecological processes. Soil Biology
& Biochemistry. 40:271-289.
Dr. Nancy Collins Johnson
- Research Interests:
•Nancy Collins Johnson studies the factors that control the abundance,
diversity, and functioning of mycorrhizal fungi in natural and
human managed ecosystems. She and her students are developing
models to better predict the distribution and symbiotic outcomes
of mycorrhizal associations across environmental gradients.
- Suggested Readings:
• Chaudhary, V.B., Lau, M.K. & Johnson, N.C. (2008). Macroecology
of Microbes - Biogeography of the Glomeromycota. Chapter 26, In:
Vama, editor, Mycorrhiza 3rd edition. Springer (in press).
•Egerton-Warburton, LM, Johnson NC, Allen EB, 2007. Mycorrhizal
community dynamics following nitrogen fertilization: A cross-site
test in five grasslands. Ecological Monographs, 77:527-544.
•Johnson N.C. et al. 2006. From Lillliput to Brobdingnag: Extending
models of mycorrhizal function across scales. BioScience,
56: 889-900.
Dr. Gerlinde De Deyn
- Research Interests:
•Gerlinde De Deyn investigates the interactions between plant
communities and soil biota in the context of biodiversity and
ecosystem functions, such as carbon cycling. She aims to understand
how plant traits and their diversity are related to the traits
of symbiotic, parasitic and saprophytic organisms and ecosystem
processes in different ecosystems. Such knowledge should enhance
restoration and conservation of both biodiversity and soil sustainability.
- Suggested Readings:
•De Deyn, G.B and van der Putten, W.H. 2005. Linking aboveground
and belowground diversity. Trends in Ecology and Evolution,
20: 625-633.
•De Deyn, G.B. et al. 2008. Plant functional traits and soil carbon
sequestration in contrasting biomes. Ecology Letters,
11: 516–531.
Dr. Stuart Grandy
- Research Interests:
•Stuart Grandy’s research examines how soil organisms interact
with their environment to regulate ecosystem processes such as
organic matter
turnover, trace gas emissions, and agricultural productivity.
This research encompasses multiple spatial scales and lies at
the interface of soil ecology, biogeochemistry, and agronomy.
While he uses a range of fundamental laboratory methods, which
include molecular chemical and microbiological approaches, he
is always striving to improve ecosystem management by understanding
how it affects soil biodiversity and function.
- Suggested Readings:
•Grandy AS, Neff, JC. In press. Molecular C dynamics downstream:
The biochemical decomposition sequence and its impact on soil
organic matter structure and function. Science of the Total
Environment.
•Grandy A.S., Neff, J.C., Weintraub M.N., 2007. Carbon structure
and enzyme activities in alpine and forest ecosystems. Soil
Biology and Biochemistry 39:2701-2711.
Dr. Paul Hebert
- Research Interests:
•My laboratory is fixated on the development of DNA-based identification
systems for eukaryotic life. Although my expertise lies with freshwater
crustaceans and Lepidoptera, our fascination with DNA-based systems
has provoked work on plants, fungi and many different groups of
animals - even soil invertebrates. My personal efforts are now
focused on gaining funding and recruiting scientific participation
for the International Barcode of Life Project which will gather
barcode records for 500K species over the next five years.
- Suggested Readings:
•Smith M.A., Wood D.M., Janzen D.H., Hallwachs W., Hebert P.D.N.,
2007. DNA barcodes affirm that 16 species of apparently generalist
tropical parasitoid flies (Diptera, Tachinidae) are not all generalists.
PNAS 104:4967-4972.
•International Barcode
of Life Project, Research Overview, 2008
Dr. Ian Hogg
- Research Interests:
•General research interests include arctic and Antarctic biodiversity,
ecology and conservation, and the consequences of global environmental
changes for natural ecosystems. Previously studied habitats have
ranged from temperate freshwater, estuarine and marine environments
(both southern and northern hemisphere) to arctic and Antarctic
terrestrial ecosystems. Studied taxa have included primarily invertebrates
(e.g. crustaceans, collembolans), but also include fish and birds.
Current research is very much focused on the molecular identification
of taxa using mtDNA “barcoding” and “ARISA” techniques. This includes
New Zealand Foundation for Research Science and Technology (FRST)-funded
research on fish and zooplankton in freshwater ecosystems, and
a FRST-funded International Polar Year (IPY) project on factors
determining the distribution of soil biota in the Ross Dependency,
Antarctica.
- Suggested Readings:
• Caruso, T., Borghini, F., Bucci, C., Colacevich, A. & Bargagli,
R. (2007) Modelling local-scale determinants and the probability
of microarthropod species occurrence in Antarctic soils. Soil
Biology and Biochemistry, 39: 2949-2956.
• Hogg, I.D., Cary, S.C., Convey, P., Newsham, K.K., OíDonnell,
A.G., Adams, B.J., Aislabie, J., Frati, F., Stevens, M.I. &
Wall, D.H. (2006) Biotic interactions in Antarctic terrestrial
ecosystems: are they a factor? Soil Biology & Biochemistry,
38: 3035-3040.
Dr. David Porco
- Research Interests:
•David Porco is currently involved in the DNA barcoding of two
major groups of the soil fauna: collembolans and earthworms. Early
results have been encouraging revealing cases of overlooked species
and cryptic diversity. The construction of barcode databases for
several groups of soil organisms will provide invaluable help
for new bioindicators of soil ecosystems. Furthermore, their future
use in large scale environmental DNA studies promises tremendous
advances in soil biodiversity monitoring.
- Suggested Readings:
•Pfenninger M., Nowak C., Kley C., Steinke D., Streit B., 2007.
Utility of DNA taxonomy and barcoding for the inference of larval
community structure in morphologically cryptic Chrionomus (Diptera)
species. Molecular Ecology 16:1957-1968.
•Roesch L.F.W., Fulthorpe R.R., Riva A., Casella G., Hadwin A.K.M.,
Kent A.D., Daroub S.H., Carnago F.A.O., Farmerie W.G., Triplett
E.W., 2007. Pyrosequencing enumerates and contrasts soil microbial
diversity. The ISME Journal 1:283-290.
Dr. Ashley Sparrow
- Research Interests:
•My career-long research interests cover a broad spectrum of terrestrial
ecology. I have worked primarily in hot and cold (polar) deserts,
semi-deserts and Mediterranean-climate ecosystems. My interests
could be generally classified as landscape ecology (although not
in a geographer’s sense of that label) with foci on the interactions
between landscape heterogeneity, geomorphological processes, successional
processes and long-term large-scale disturbance regimes. Much
of this work has been conducted in a framework of applied science
needs relating to the sustainable management of grazing, fire
and timber, and restoration of ecosystems degraded by past human
actions. Plant/soil and above-ground/below-ground exchanges are
central to my understanding of landscape ecology, and these components
may be expressed as three key factors that I believe critical
to soil biodiversity and its significance for terrestrial ecosystems:
• spatial redistribution of soil resources and biota (otherwise
known as allochthonous inputs) which have been a special focus
of the Antarctic research group of which I am a member
• spatial self-organization processes of desert ecosystems with
respect to resource patterns, soil formation and biota, and plant
productivity and species composition
• complexity theory and the use of thermodynamic indicators of
ecosystem development, stability and degradation, including exergy
and its relation to metabolic scaling “laws”.
- Suggested Readings:
•Hopkins, D.W., Sparrow, A.D., Novis, P.M., Gregorich, E.G., Elberling,
B. & Greenfield, L.G. 2006. Controls on the distribution of
productivity and organic resources in Antarctic dry valley soils.
Proceedings of the Royal Society Series B: Biological Sciences
273: 2687-2695.
•Tongway, D.J., Sparrow, A.D. & Friedel, M.H. 2003. Degradation
and recovery processes in grazed arid grasslands of central Australia:
1. Soil and land resources. Journal of Arid Environments
55: 301-326.
Dr. Tony Trofymow
- Research Interests:
•Tony Trofymow Studies the role of soil biota in detrital carbon
fluxes and decomposition processes. He is leader of the Canadian
Intersite Decomposition Experiment (CIDET), a study that examines
long-term litter and wood decay rates at 21 forested sites across
Canada. He also leads the Coastal Forest Chronosequence Experiment,
a study examining changes in ecosystem structure, processes and
diversity in old-growth and managed forests of coastal British
Colombia.
•He is co-investigator in the Canadian Carbon Plan/Fluxnet Canada
Research Network studying the effects of disturbance on stand
level C fluxes, stocks, and component fluxes at seven stations
across Canada. He leads studies on historic C budgets, C stock
distribution, litterfall, and root production at the coastal BC
station, C stocks and budgets at the interior BC station and a
cross-station decomposition experiment.
•Additionally, Dr. Trofymow is a participant in the British Columbia
Ectomycorrhizal Research Network. He leads studies on ectomycorrhizal
fungal diversity under variable retention forestry and development
of on-line taxonomic tools for ectomycorrhizal fungi, including
Concise Descriptions of North American Ectomycorrhizae, Ectomycorrhizae
Descriptions Database, Photoprofiles of Ectomycorrhizae, and Matchmaker:
Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
- Suggested articles:
•Trofymow J.A., Addison, J., Blackwell B.A., He, F., Preston,
C.A., and Marshall, V. 2003. Attributes and indicators of old-growth
and successional Douglas-fir forests on Vancouver Island. Environmental
Reviews. 11:S187-S204.
•Addison, J., Trofymow, J., and Marshall, V.G. 2003b. Abundance,
species diversity, and community structure of Collembola in successional
coastal temperate forests on Vancouver Island, Canada. Applied
Soil Ecology. 24:233-246.
•Outerbridge, R.A. and J.A.Trofymow. 2004. Diversity of ectomycorrhizae
on experimentally planted Douglas-fir seedlings in variable retention
forestry sites on southern Vancouver Island. Canadian Journal
of Botany. 82: 1671-1681
•Climate Change 2007 – Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability.
Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report
of the IPCC. Cambridge University Press.
Dr. Volkmar Wolters
- Research Interests:
•Functional implications of soil biodiversity.
• Upscaling of soil ecological processes to the landscape level.
•Above-belowground interactions
- Suggested Readings:
•Chauvat M, Wolters V, Dauber J (2007) Response of collembolan
communities to land-use change and grassland succession. Ecography
30, 183 - 192.
•Sander A-C, Purtauf T, Holzhauer SIJ, Wolters V (2006) Landscape
effects on the genetic structure of the ground beetle Poecilus
versicolor STURM 1824. Biodiversity and Conservation
15, 245-259.
•Ekschmitt K, Liu M, Vetter S, Fox O, Wolters V (2005) Strategies
used by soil biota to overcome soil organic matter stability -
why is dead organic matter left over in the soil? Geoderma
128, 167-176.
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This page was last updated March 10, 2008
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