IGN 6 - Trait-Based Methods for Representing Change in Belowground Ecosystems

Tuesday, August 8, 2017: 8:00 AM-9:30 AM
C124, Oregon Convention Center
Organizer:
Daniel B. Stover, US Department of Energy
Co-organizers:
Stan D. Wullschleger, Oak Ridge National Laboratory; and Colleen M. Iversen, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Moderator:
Daniel B. Stover, US Department of Energy
Field ecologists and ecosystem modelers face a foundational challenge to simplify structural and functional attributes of belowground terrestrial ecosystems while accurately capturing the diversity observed in nature. An exciting field of research – trait-enabled modeling – is being forged at the intersection of plant ecology and ecosystem modeling, where both communities are seeking to understand and harness covariation among plant and microbial traits. Belowground ecological traits, both structural and functional, are those that define species in terms of their ecological roles and how those species interact with the environment and with other organisms in a community. n this Ignite session we will bring together these two communities, and their respective challenges, and discuss a vision for how belowground traits, more specifically root, rhizosphere, and microbial traits, can facilitate new ways of understanding plant dynamics and ecology. Armed with this knowledge, one can implement trait-enabled approaches to modeling ecosystem function, which allows communities to be assembled based on how microbes, plants, and soils with unique trait combinations perform under a given set of environmental conditions, thus improving our predictive capabilities. We anticipate that pursuing trait covariation and trait-enabled modeling in an Ignite session will provide opportunities for fruitful collaboration between field ecologists and ecosystem modelers as thus advancing this new and evolving capability. Such collaboration will ultimately improve our understanding of how climate and vegetation interact to define the past, current and future distribution of vegetation, and feedbacks to climate.
 Outcomes of the new phytologist trait covariation workshop
Stan D. Wullschleger, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
 Overcoming challenges in trait-based global modeling
Steven D. Allison, University of California
 Interfacing plant and soil in earth system models: Missing components and implications
Qing Zhu, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; William J. Riley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Robert Grant, University of Alberta
 Harnessing a galaxy of root traits to address belowground challenges in plant ecology
Colleen M. Iversen, Oak Ridge National Laboratory; M. Luke McCormack, University of Minnesota; A. Shafer Powell, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
 Revisiting old assumptions and developing new paradigms informed by robust data and trait-based perspectives
M. Luke McCormack, University of Minnesota; Colleen M. Iversen, Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Habacuc Flores-Moreno, University of Minnesota
 Root trait diversity: A key to soil carbon stabilization, but can it be simplified for terrestrial ecosystem models?
Christopher B. Blackwood, Kent State University; Anthony J. Minerovic, Kent State University; Oscar J. Valverde-Barrantes, Florida International University
 Predictive promise and pitfalls of incorporating mycorrhizal fungal traits into Earth System Models
Stephanie N. Kivlin, University of New Mexico; Jennifer A. Rudgers, University of New Mexico; Benjamin Sulman, Princeton University
Cancelled
 Does drought resilience scale simply with root hydraulic traits in tropical forests?
Bradley Christoffersen, Los Alamos National Laboratory; Chonggang Xu, Los Alamos National Laboratory; Nate McDowell, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
See more of: Ignite-style