OOS 64
The Soil Frontier: Understanding How Belowground Processes Drive Ecosystem Responses to Climate Change

Thursday, August 13, 2015: 8:00 AM-11:30 AM
328, Baltimore Convention Center
Organizer:
Christine V. Hawkes, University of Texas at Austin
Co-organizers:
Aimee Classen, University of Copenhagen; Valerie T. Eviner, University of California Davis; and Kathleen K. Treseder, University of California, Irvine
Moderator:
Kathleen Treseder, University of California, Irvine
Over the past 25 years, some of the most exciting frontiers in ecology have been related to soils, as methodological advances have facilitated breaking open “the soil black box” to document patterns of microbial diversity and function. Per unit area, soils harbor the greatest biological and functional diversity on earth, largely in fungi and bacteria. Microbial activities directly determine greenhouse gas emissions and sequestration, and also indirectly regulate ecosystem feedbacks by influencing plant responses to changing environmental conditions. Climate change is currently altering these functions, highlighting the pressing need for a better mechanistic understanding of the links between microbial communities and soil processes. We have only scratched the surface of how soil microbial communities influence ecosystem function, and new insights continue to arise due to the development of new techniques, greater global sampling efforts, and incorporation of microbes into experimental designs and models. In this session, speakers will highlight how historical and recent progress in this field has impacted current thinking, consider underappreciated ecological and evolutionary mechanisms, incorporate a cross-scale vision, and reflect on the challenges that must be met to advance this ecological frontier.
8:00 AM
 Linking soil microbes to ecosystem function: How does history inform the present and future?
Aimee Classen, The University of Tennessee: Knoxville; Kristen DeAngelis, University of Massachusetts, Amherst; Whendee Silver, University of California; Jennifer W. Harden, United States Geological Survey
8:20 AM
 Macro-manipulation and micro-response: How climate changes shape critical interactions between plant roots and soil microbial communities
Jennifer Pett-Ridge, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; Sasha C. Reed, U.S. Geological Survey; Franciska De Vries, University of Manchester
8:40 AM
 Plant-mycorrhizal interactions mediate ecosystem nutrient cycling across three tropical forests: Case studies along a gradient of ectomycorrhizal abundance
Bonnie G. Waring, University of Minnesota; Krista L. McGuire, Barnard College, Columbia University; Jennifer S. Powers, University of Minnesota
9:00 AM
 Connecting root activity, nitrogen mineralization, and plant allocation in temperate forest: A new modeling approach
Benjamin N. Sulman, Indiana University; Edward R. Brzostek, West Virginia University; Richard P. Phillips, Indiana University
9:20 AM
 Investigating the impact of long-term nutrient additions on soil microbial biodiversity and carbon sequestration potential
Ariane L. Peralta, East Carolina University; Casey D. Eakins, East Carolina University; Joshua C. Thigpen, East Carolina University; Carol Goodwillie, East Carolina University
9:40 AM
9:50 AM
 The interplay of ecology and evolution in aboveground-belowground responses to environmental change
Jennifer A. Lau, Michigan State University; Jay T. Lennon, Indiana University; Casey P. terHorst, California State University, Northridge; Michael E. Van Nuland, University of Tennessee; Ian M. Ware, University of Tennesee; Joseph K. Bailey, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Jennifer Schweitzer, University of Tennessee
10:10 AM
 Historical contingencies in microbial responses to climate change can constrain ecosystem responses
Christine V. Hawkes, University of Texas; Kathleen K. Treseder, University of California, Irvine
10:30 AM
 Small-scale experiments in diverse ecosystems highlight the intricate linkages between microbial behavior and ecosystem-scale processes
Sharon A. Billings, University of Kansas; Tana E. Wood, USDA Forest Service; Kate Buckeridge, University of Kansas; Kyungjin Min, University of Kansas; Zhiqun Huang, Fuijan University; Susan Ziegler, Memorial University; Daniel deB. Richter, Duke University; Jennifer Pett-Ridge, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; Eoin L. Brodie, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Nicholas J. Bouskill, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
10:50 AM
 Modeling the gap: Scaling soil carbon models from the microbe to the globe
Katherine Todd-Brown, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; Melanie A. Mayes, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
11:10 AM
 New frontiers in soil: Future challenges and knowledge gaps
Seeta Sistla, Hampshire College; Serita D. Frey, University of New Hampshire; Katharine N. Suding, University of California at Berkeley