IGN 14-1
Eco-evolutionary drivers of global cycles: Linking ecosystem change to plant populations and beyond

Thursday, August 13, 2015
345, Baltimore Convention Center
Richard P. Shefferson, University of Tokyo
Charles Cowden, Arid Land Agricultural Research Center, Mariposa, AZ
The influence of evolution on ecosystem processes is coming increasingly under study, but presents substantial difficulties due to the logistics of rigorously documenting evolution while precisely and accurately measuring biogeochemical fluxes across large landscapes. We present ideas on how these two processes, occurring  on vastly different scales, interact via plant and microbial populations and communities. We particularly focus on the inherently symbiotic nature of plant life, and showcase eco-evolutionary frameworks that we believe should yield the theoretical and empirical rigor to understand these links.