Ecosystem science and organismal ecology
Our group studies plant ecology, biogeography and ecosystem science from the tropics to the poles trying to understand ecosystem dynamics in a changing world.
Current projects
SECO: Resolving the current and future carbon dynamics of the dry tropics
The SECO project is the first large scale attempt to quantify the vegetation and land-use carbon fluxes of the dry tropics by combining field data from long term plots, remote sensing and modelling. The 5-year project is a collaboration between 45 partners who will work to understand the extent to which the world’s savannas and dry forests act as a carbon sink, mitigating climate change, and the causes of this sink. The answers are important for both climate change mitigation and for an improved understanding of how these ecosystems are responding to global change.
Further examples of collaborative research include:
The CRYPTOCOVER project: Biocomplexity and functioning of the cryptogamic cover in arid and polar regions
Investigating team: Dr Claudia Colesie; with Universidad Complutense, Spain
Watch Dr Claudia Colesie and fellow researchers as they travel to Antarctica for the 'Cryptocover' project. The project investigated biocomplexity and functioning of the cryptogamic cover in arid and polar regions. It was funded by the Spanish Research Council and the Spanish Antarctic research committee and coordinated by Professor Leopoldo Sancho, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain.
Resilience in Antarctic biota and ecosystems
Investigating team: Dr Claudia Colesie; with the University of Waikato, New Zealand
Plant nutrition as Earth system science: Understanding the links between plant nutrient gain and soil carbon storage
Principal Investigator: Mathew Williams and (Co-investigator) Dr Lorna Street
Will more productive Arctic ecosystems sequester less soil carbon? A key role for priming in the rhizosphere ('PRIME-TIME')
Investigating team: University of Stirling, UK; with Dr Lorna Street
Our researchers in ecosystem science and organismal ecology are:
- Dr Claudia Colesie
- Dr Kyle Dexter
- Dr Gail Jackson
- Dr Caroline Lehmann
- Dr Isla Myers-Smith
- Dr Lorna Street
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