E&E Seminar: “Soil habitats as holistic complex systems” by Nick Medina (Morton Arboretum)
March 18, 2025
12:30 PM - 1:30 PM
Location
SELE 4289
Calendar
Download iCal FilePlease join us March 18th, 2025 at 12:30pm in SELE 4289 for an E&E Seminar featuring "Soil habitats as holistic complex systems" by Dr. Nick Medina (Morton Arboretum).
Nick is a postdoctoral scholar with the Root Biology Lab at Morton Arboretum.
Host: Joe Walker
Abstract: Soils are the most complex habitat on Earth and contain two-thirds of estimated biodiversity as well as most terrestrial nutrients. However, most soil biological and functional diversity remains poorly understood. Using theoretical advances from the interdisciplinary field of complex systems science, my research gathers evidence from diverse contexts to show that soils often show important non-linear relationships, which have important implications for more robustly predicting soil and related plant functions under various global changes. Specifically, my work spans the soil food web to highlight both fine- and broader-scale spatial and temporal seasonal patterns of soil bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi. Priorities for future research involve expanding conceptual analyses to more broadly include key sources of structural uncertainty in ecosystem changes, such as emerging drivers of diverse patterns in human activity, such as in coupled socio-ecological urban ecosystems.
Date posted
May 8, 2024
Date updated
Feb 20, 2025