OOS 37
Implications of Positive Interaction Studies to the Future of Ecological Research

Wednesday, August 12, 2015: 8:00 AM-11:30 AM
314, Baltimore Convention Center
Organizer:
Diego A. Sotomayor, York University
Co-organizer:
Alessandro Filazzola, York University
Moderator:
Alessandro Filazzola, York University
Ecology, the study of interactions, has developed dramatically as a scientific field over the last century. More recently, in the last 30 years, positive interactions have been increasingly more popular and used to explain intricate processes of ecological communities. Through a suite of mechanisms, two species can interact positively by reducing physical stress, competition, consumption or by increasing available resources and dispersal. Through these pathways, positive interactions can define an ecosystem through spatial structure, diversity, productivity and evolutionary trajectories. The goal of this session is to briefly highlight the current state of facilitation research and describe the future projections including available gaps in the literature. Positive interactions continue to be linked to core concepts in ecological theory including community assembly and evolutionary biology, particularly by increasing the phylogenetic diversity of communities. This can assist in maintaining global species richness by considering facilitation as a mechanism in sustaining genetic diversity. Moreover, facilitation is being use to explain emerging ecological fields, such as its use in restoring degraded landscapes through the utilization of nurse plants.
8:00 AM
 A role for soil microbial communities in plant-plant facilitation
Cristina Armas, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas; Yudi M. Lozano, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas; Sara Hortal, University of Western Sydney; Susana Rodríguez-Echeverría, Centre for Functional Ecology; Francisco I. Pugnaire, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas
8:20 AM
 Positive interactions expand habitat use and the realized niches of sympatric species
Sinead M. Crotty, Brown University; Mark D. Bertness, Brown University
9:20 AM
 The consequences of plant–plant interactions at the community level: A niche-based approach
Christian Schöb, University of Zurich; Sara Hortal, University of Western Sydney; Alison J. Karley, James Hutton Institute; Luna Morcillo, Universitat d'Alacant; Andrian C. Newton, The James Hutton Institute; Robin J. Pakeman, The James Hutton Institute; Jeff R. Powell, University of Western Sydney; Ian Anderson, University of Western Sydney; Rob W. Brooker, The James Hutton Institute
9:40 AM
10:10 AM
 Positive species interactions and climate change at global scales
Qiang He, Duke University; Brian R. Silliman, Duke University