OOS 28 - Soil Microbial Communities As Facilitators of Ecosystem Restoration and Recovery

Thursday, August 11, 2016: 8:00 AM-11:30 AM
Grand Floridian Blrm F, Ft Lauderdale Convention Center
Organizer:
Jonathan T. Bauer, Indiana University
Co-organizer:
Nina Wurzburger, University of Georgia
Moderator:
Nina Wurzburger, University of Georgia
Soil microbial communities are well recognized for their importance in plant growth, biodiversity and ecosystem function. Anthropogenic disturbances (e.g., land use, land management and the introduction of invasive species) and can disrupt or displace microbial communities and may prevent these critical biotic interactions, yet we still lack synthetic understanding of these relationships and how they may be applied in conservation and restoration. In particular, we lack knowledge about the diversity and function of soil microorganisms and the role they play in disturbance recovery. From an applied perspective, we also face significant technical challenges in the utilization of soil microorganisms in restoration. Several research groups have taken up these challenges. Our session will highlight recent progress in our understanding of soil communities, from their basic ecology and response or resilience to perturbation, to advances in utilizing these communities to achieve restoration goals across a variety of terrestrial ecosystems. Specifically, we will discuss how soil microbial communities facilitate forest recovery from fire, stabilize soils in arid environments and aid in the re-establishment of native plant species following disturbance or invasion of exotics. To motivate conceptual advance, we will discuss cutting-edge molecular techniques for the identification of microbial communities, manipulative experiments for isolating causative factors in microbial response to perturbation, and the direct employment of microbial inocula in restoration efforts.
8:00 AM
 Restoration of soil microbial function following biological invasion
Serita D. Frey, University of New Hampshire; Mark A. Anthony, University of New Hampshire; Jason Aylward, University of Massachusetts; Kristina A. Stinson, University of Massachusetts
8:20 AM
 Plant-soil feedbacks in forest understory communities following garlic mustard invasion
Dustin Haines, University of Massachusetts Amherst; Jason Aylward, University of Massachusetts; Mark A. Anthony, University of New Hampshire; Serita D. Frey, University of New Hampshire; Kristina Stinson, University of Massachusetts
8:40 AM
 Life-history tradeoffs, plant microbial interactions, and the recovery and restoration of plant communities following anthropogenic disturbance
Jonathan T. Bauer, Indiana University; Liz Koziol, Indiana University; James D. Bever, University of Kansas
9:00 AM
 History matters: AMF community composition across Ozark glades and Osage Plains tallgrass prairie fragments
Alice G. Tipton, University of Missouri; Candace Galen, University of Missouri-Columbia; William G Spollen, University of Missouri; Elizabeth L. Middleton, Missouri Department of Conservation
9:20 AM
 The potential for feedbacks between fire and soil fungi in pyrogenic environments
Benjamin A. Sikes, University of Kansas; William J. Platt, Louisiana State University
9:40 AM
9:50 AM
 Mycorrhizae, succession and restoration: Principle and practice
James D. Bever, University of Kansas; Liz Koziol, Indiana University; Geoffrey L. House, Indiana University; Jonathan T. Bauer, Indiana University; Carli R. Gurholt, Indiana University; Tanya E. Cheeke, Indiana University; Katherine L. Zaiger, Oklahoma State University; Karen R. Hickman, Oklahoma State University; Gail W.T. Wilson, Oklahoma State University; Peggy A. Schultz, University of Kansas
10:10 AM
 N2-fixation dynamics during ecosystem recovery in a fire-maintained savanna
Julie Tierney, University of Georgia; Nina Wurzburger, University of Georgia
10:30 AM
 Microbial communities in cheatgrass disturbed and intact sagebrush vegetation
Catherine A. Gehring, Northern Arizona University; Christine Mitchell, Northern Arizona University; Lluvia Flores-Renteria, Northern Arizona University; Michaela Hayer, Northern Arizona University; Egbert Schwartz, Northern Arizona University; Paul Dijkstra, Northern Arizona University
10:50 AM
 Restoration of plant and soil communities following invasive warm-season grass eradication in a tallgrass prairie ecosystem
Gail W.T. Wilson, Oklahoma State University; Karen R. Hickman, Oklahoma State University; James D. Bever, Indiana University; Peggy A. Schultz, University of Kansas
11:10 AM
 Advances in biological soil crust rehabilitation in North American drylands
Akasha M. Faist, University of Colorado; Anita J. Antoninka, Northern Arizona University; Nichole N. Barger, University of Colorado Boulder; Jayne Belnap, U.S. Geological Survey; Matthew A. Bowker, Northern Arizona University; Michael C. Duniway, U.S. Geological Survey; Ana Giraldo Silva, Arizona State University; Ferran Garcia Pichel, Arizona State University; Corey Nelson, Arizona State University; Sasha C. Reed, U.S. Geological Survey; Sergio Velasco Ayuso, Arizona State University