Symposium 1
Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Connecting Past and Future, People and Place, and Ways of Knowing
Monday, August 2, 2021
8:30 AM – 9:30 AM Pacific Time
Session Description
The TEK Section was founded 20 years ago to 1) promote the understanding, dissemination and respectful use of traditional ecological knowledge in ecological research, application and education, 2) to encourage education in traditional ecological knowledge 3) to stimulate research which incorporates the traditional knowledge and participation of Indigenous people and 4) to increase participation by Indigenous people in the Ecological Society of America (TEK section by-laws). Awareness of Indigenous knowledges has grown over this period, with seminal contributions from some of the founding members, built on the deep roots of knowledge and a way of knowing that can only flourish when people have an intimate relationship with the place they inhabit and depend on for their prosperity. Ecologists trained in the western European model have made great advances in our understanding of ecosystems and processes, but are often unaware of the value and insights known by Indigenous knowledge holders. These include, for example, a deep holistic understanding of biotic and abiotic connections within ecosystems as well as practical applications such as management of agro-ecosystems and fire management of forested ecosystems. These and other examples underscore the potential benefits possible with a more inclusive and equitable ecology, one that is open to learning from and collaborating with Indigenous knowledge holders. We explore these ideas in this symposium, connecting the past to the future of Traditional Ecological Knowledge, its relationship and potential for connection with Western science and technology, and connecting Western scientists that make up the vast majority of ESA membership to Indigenous scientists who are conducting research incorporating both ways of knowing. The speakers in this symposium, all Native, are well-established scientists, some who were founding members of the TEK section, and all leading thinkers helping to create the future of Indigenous knowledge. Together, they provide a bridge spanning generations and improving human relations with the world we depend on.
One-sentence Summary
In this symposium, speakers will reflect on the contributions of Indigenous knowledges / ways of knowing to ecology and what they see as the role of Indigenous knowledges in the future.
Organizer
Robert Newman – University of North Dakota, Biology
Co-organizers
James Rattling Leaf Sr. – University of Colorado, Boulder, North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center
Joseph Gazing Wolf – Arizona State University
Frank K. Lake – U.S. Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station
Devin E. McMahon – USDA Forest Service
Jo Werba – USGS
Moderator
James Rattling Leaf Sr. – University of Colorado, Boulder, North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center
Speakers
Twenty years of the ESA’s Traditional Ecological Knowledge Section- Once a graduate student, now a tribal professional ecologist
Frank K. Lake, Pacific Southwest Research Station, U.S. Forest Service, Arcata, CA
Traditional ecological knowledge: Learning from Indigenous practices for environmental sustainability
Melissa K. Nelson, School of Sustainability, College of Global Futures, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
TEK helps integration of social and ecological sciences
Ronald L. Trosper, American Indian Studies, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
Evolving towards Ethical Space: The authority of Earth Knowledge in Western and Indigenous societies
Gwen Bridge, Gwen Bridge Consulting Ltd, Nelson, BC, Canada
Symposium 2
Looking Beyond Stockholm +50: Moving Toward Solutions: System Approaches to Sustaining Human-Environment Systems
Monday, August 2, 2021
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM Pacific Time
Session Description
The first UN Conference on the Human-Environment was held in Stockholm 1992 (often referred to as the Stockholm Conference) and set the course for nations to recognize the growing alarm of how human activities were affecting the environment on which society relies. The Stockholm Conference was a clarion call to national leaders and scientific communities to work together to find sustainable solutions to the growing threats to our environment. This session deals with engaging practitioners and researchers in the development of solutions and a companion session deals with the scientific understanding of global environmental changes. The Stockholm Conference on the Human-Environment in 1972 initiated an international dialogue between policy makers, practitioners, and researchers to deal with environmental issues threatening to human and ecosystem well-being. The global environmental challenges, air and water pollution, harmful chemicals in the environment, biodiversity loss, over consumption of non-renewable resources, highlighted at the threats faced by society to maintain key ecosystem services to support key functions such as food security, sustain biodiversity, and reduce climate changes. Response to these efforts over the decades has been the emergence of earth stewardship principles and strategies that are aimed to sustain the earth system and the global biosphere. However, the manner in which we deal with the sources of the causes of these threats and transformation is needed to deal with the impacts need to be developed in a more nuanced regional to local context and greater engagement with civil society. Regions around the globe have different set of adaptive capacity and capital resources that determine the vulnerability and resilience to changes in climate, land use changes, and loss of habitat. There is a need to develop a platform to enable joint strategies to between researchers and practitioners at scale that is meaningful to local and regional communities. This session will be preceded by a companion session, Special Session 3: “Looking Beyond Stockholm +50: The Role for Ecological Science”.
One-sentence Summary
The cross-linkages between practitioners and researchers have strengthened over the past 50 years. This session will highlight how trans-disciplinary approaches are being developed to address issues related to earth system stewardship, climate mitigation, urban systems, and to local considerations of action to cope with emerging environmental changes.
Organizer
Dennis Ojima – Colorado State University, Ecosystem Science and Sustainability and the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Natural and Environmental Sciences Building
Co-organizer
Jerry M. Melillo – Marine Biological Laboratory, The Ecosystems Laboratory
Moderator
Dennis Ojima – Colorado State University, Ecosystem Science and Sustainability and the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Natural and Environmental Sciences Building
Speakers
Stewardship as a framework for sustainable ecosystem management
F. Stuart Chapin, Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK
Urban dilemma: Pathways toward sustainable urban environments
Paty Romero-Lankao, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, DOE, Golden, CO
Food security: Feeding 10 billion and sustaining ecosystem services
Moffatt Ngugi, USAID/RFS, US Agency for International Development, Washington, DC and Emily Weeks, Resilience, USAID, Washington DC, DC
Transforming the relationship of science and action to mobilize knowledge
Richard H. Moss, Science for Climate Action Network, Bethesda, MD
Symposium 3
Racial Bias in Ecological Citizen Science
Monday, August 2, 202
1:30 PM-2:30 PM Pacific Time
Session Description
Is there a racial bias in citizen science and, if so, why does it persist? What are the consequences for data quality and for justice? How can we reduce the racial bias? Top-down, large-scale citizen science projects engage predominantly white participants. Grassroots, community-driven projects engage BIPOC. Citizen science activity is racially segregated across projects that differ by scale, goals, priorities, and power dynamics. Top-down, crowdsourcing projects with large numbers of volunteers, however, allow volunteers autonomy in selecting where and how frequently individuals collect data. Consequently, citizen science datasets can have significant spatial bias of data obtained from opportunistic and haphazard locations based on the preferences of the volunteers, and the bias is compounded by lack of standardized volunteer effort. Another common feature of volunteers in large-scale citizen science projects is that they are overwhelmingly white and affluent. Consequently, citizen science data has a racial-spatial bias….which results in data quality issues and environmental justice issues.
One-sentence Summary
Citizen science is an umbrella phrase that includes a wide range of project designs that vary in scale and structure. There are racial patterns across the spectrum of projects, with consequences for environmental justice and data quality.
Organizer
Zakiya Leggett – North Carolina State University, Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources
Co-organizers
Caren Cooper – NC State University, Forestry & Environmental Resources
Gillian Bowser – Colorado State University, Warner College of Natural Resources
Moderator
Zakiya Leggett – North Carolina State University, Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources
Speakers
Racial bias in ecological citizen science
Caren Cooper, Forestry & Environmental Resources, NC State University, Raleigh, NC
A racial bias is a spatial bias: The impact of majority white participation in citizen science projects
Chris Hawn, Geography & Environmental Systems, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, Caren Cooper, Forestry & Environmental Resources, NC State University, Raleigh, NC, Sacoby Wilson, Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, Erica H. Henry, Applied Ecology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC and Dillon Mahmoudi, Geography and Environmental Systems, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD
Connecting with the outdoors by learning and using iNaturalist while protecting vulnerable communities
Bryan I. Rodriguez1, Jennifer M. Adams1, Esmeralda Cabrera1 and Jorge Ramos2, (1)Latino Outdoors, CA, (2)Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
Designed for inclusion: Using community-engaged research to advance equity and urban watershed restoration
Na’Taki Osborne Jelks, Environmental and Health Sciences, Spelman College, Atlanta, GA
Symposium 4
Navigating a Gender-Biased World: Lessons from the Experiences of Women in Ecology across Cultures and Generations
Tuesday, August 3, 2021
7:00 AM-8:00 AM Pacific Time
Session Description
Women are a growing part of academia. However, the academic environment is still much more hostile for them compared to their male colleagues. Starting at school, girls are often discouraged to pursue scientific careers. The few women who manage to get a job in science often encounter difficulties to progress in their careers and are thus underrepresented at advanced career stages. In Ecology, papers authored by women have a lower acceptance rate and are less likely to be cited than papers written by men. Women also face additional challenges while working in the field. Despite these extra burdens, women have long been producing cutting-edge science, often without proper recognition. To make matters worse, gender biases may compound with other biases, such as those against people of color and immigrants. We believe the time is ripe for correcting centuries of injustice against female scientists, but in order to do that it is important to learn about the experiences of a variety of women in ecology from different generations, races, and countries in order to reflect on the current state of gender equality in ecology and to dismantle structures and practices that generate stereotypes and perpetuate gender inequalities in academia. We want to include women ecologists from different career stages to assess how the participation of women in ecology has changed and to understand if women are equally represented at advanced career stages. It is also important to learn from women of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds to understand the particularities of the challenges they have encountered. We hope this session will foster a dialogue between a variety of men and women ecologists with diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds to reduce exclusion and discrimination towards female scientists.
One-sentence Summary
Because women in Ecology face greater challenges and are underrepresented despite producing cutting-edge science, we want to reflect on the current state of gender inequality in ecology, and assess how stereotypes and biases against women of color and immigrants perpetuate disparity in academia.
Organizer
Alejandra Martínez-Blancas – Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Facultad de Ciencias
Co-organizers
Verónica Zepeda – Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Facultad de Ciencias
Marcel Carita Vaz – ESA Latin America Chapter Vice Chair; University of California, Los Angeles
Arona Bender – ESA Latin American Chapter Student liaison, ESA Student Section Secretary; Hampton University
Moderator
Arona Bender – ESA Latin American Chapter Student liaison, ESA Student Section Secretary; Hampton University, Hampton VA
Speakers
Research on gender biases as a tool for mentoring future ecologists
Ana Margarida C. Santos, Terrestrial Ecology Group (TEG-UAM), Departamento de Ecología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain; Centro de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Cambio Global (CIBC-UAM), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Acts of survival: Working to change the unacceptable disparities in ecological participation
Maria N. Miriti, Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
Surviving racism and sexism in academia: Experiences and insights
Priyanga Amarasekare, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
From fieldwork in rural communities to bioinformatics in Mexico City and back to the field: Lessons for women in ecology
Alicia Mastretta-Yanes, CONACYT – Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad, Mexico City, Mexico
Symposium 5
ESA Early Career Fellows and Mercer Award Symposium I
Tuesday, August 3, 2021
1:30 PM – 2:30 PM Pacific Time
Session Description
This symposium will showcase the research of ESA Early Career Fellows and the Mercer Award winner. Early Career Fellows are members recognized for advancing ecological knowledge and for their promise of continuing to make outstanding contributions to ecology. The Mercer Award is given by ESA for an outstanding ecological research paper published by a younger researcher 40 years of age or younger at the time of publication. Talks will span the field of ecology and highlight new directions in ecological research.
One-sentence Summary
A symposium showcasing the research of ESA Early Career Fellows and the Mercer Award winner.
Organizer
Charles Nilon – University of Missouri, School of Natural Resources
Moderator
Charles Nilon – University of Missouri, School of Natural Resources
Speakers
Experiments, synthesis, and love: The means to understanding plant community responses to global change Meghan Avolio, Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
Linking local dynamics to emergent ecosystem-scale properties to predict production in tropical coastal ecosystems Jacob Allgeier, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
The right kind of machine learning for a changing planet?
Carl Boettiger, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
Textured species range maps enhance interdisciplinary science capacity across scales
Nyeema C. Harris, School of the Environment, Yale University, New Haven, CT
Symposium 6
ESA Early Career Fellows and Mercer Award Symposium II
Tuesday, August 3, 2021
2:30 PM – 3:30 PM Pacific Time
Session Description
This symposium will showcase the research of ESA Early Career Fellows and the Mercer Award winner. Early Career Fellows are members recognized for advancing ecological knowledge and for their promise of continuing to make outstanding contributions to ecology. The Mercer Award is given by ESA for an outstanding ecological research paper published by a younger researcher 40 years of age or younger at the time of publication. Talks will span the field of ecology and highlight new directions in ecological research.
One-sentence Summary
A symposium showcasing the research of ESA Early Career Fellows and the Mercer Award winner.
Organizer
Charles Nilon – University of Missouri, School of Natural Resources
Moderator
Charles Nilon – University of Missouri, School of Natural Resources
Speakers
Title TBD
Joleah Lamb, School of Civil Engineering, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, CA
“It’s the greening of the trees that really gets to me”*: Revisiting phenological mismatch
Caitlin McDonough MacKenzie, Biology, Colby College, Boston, MA
Team-based synthesis science yields a novel legacy of insights into species synchrony
Lauren Hallett, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR
Symposium 7
A Dynamic Perspective on Ecosystem Restoration: Establishing Temporal Connectivity at the Intersection Between Paleoecology and Restoration Ecology
Wednesday, August 4, 2021
8:30 AM–9:30 AM Pacific Time
Session Description
Landscape connectivity is vital not only spatially, but also temporally; as ecosystems change, it is important to be aware of past, present, and future variables that may impact ecosystem function and biodiversity. As climate and environments continue to change, choosing appropriate restoration targets is becoming more challenging. By considering the paleoecological and paleoenvironmental record for a given region, restoration practitioners are not only able to bear witness to that region’s dynamic history, but also potentially identify multiple, alternative natural ecosystem states. Indeed, one of the asserted deliverables of conservation paleobiology, a field that applies paleontological data and methods to present-day conservation, is to inform restoration targets. Consideration of future change is equally important and paleoecological and paleoclimatological data are essential for informing models that can help us understand how climate change is affecting species and ecosystems at different temporal scales. In this symposium, representatives from paleoecology and restoration ecology will share their perspectives on temporal connectivity and how consideration of an ecosystem’s past, present and future can positively impact restoration and conservation. Some speakers will approach this topic theoretically while others will consider it from a more practical and applied standpoint. Our goal is to build a stronger relationship between the subdisciplines and, through these presentations and the ensuing discussion, we hope to stimulate new ideas and to identify data and/or products that would be useful to share across subdisciplines.
One-sentence Summary
Sitting at the intersection between restoration ecology and paleoecology, this session will address the importance of temporal connectivity and how consideration of an ecosystem’s past, present and future can positively impact restoration and conservation.
Organizer
Rachel Reid – Virginia Tech, Geosciences
Co-organizer
Jenny L. McGuire – Georgia Institute of Technology, Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Quantitative Biosciences
Moderator
Rachel Reid – Virginia Tech, Geosciences
Speakers
Integrated macroecological-paleoecological perspectives on large-herbivore effects on ecosystems – Implications for conservation and restoration
Jens-Christian Svenning1,2, Camilla Fløjgaard3, Rasmus Østergaard Pedersen1,2, Emilio Berti4, Søren Faurby5,6, Rasmus Ejrnæs3, Pil B.M. Pedersen7 and Christopher J. Sandom8, (1)Department of Biology, Section for Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark, (2)Center for Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World (BIOCHANGE), Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark, (3)Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Rønde, Denmark, (4)German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Leipzig, Germany, (5)Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre, Gothenburg, Sweden, (6)Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden, (7)Centre for Landscape and Climate, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom, (8)School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom
Creating resilient landscapes through connectivity – Lessons learned from the past
Jenny L. McGuire, Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Quantitative Biosciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, Yue Wang, School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA and Silvia Pineda-Munoz, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IL
The present is the key to the past and the past is the key to the future – Application of paleoecology to restoration of the Everglades
G. Lynn Wingard, Florence Bascom Geoscience Center, United States Geological Survey, Reston, VA and Miriam Jones, Florence Bascom Geoscience Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA
Understanding the slow recovery of ecosystem complexity to accelerate restoration
David Moreno Mateos, Landscape Architecture, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA; Organismal and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA; Basque Centre for Climate Change – BC3, Leioa, Spain
Symposium 8
Can Nucleation Bridge to Desirable Alternative Stable States? Theory and Applications
Wednesday, August 4, 2021
2:30 PM – 3:30 PM Pacific Time
Session Description
Ecosystem recovery is full of wicked problems. These problems arise from the complexity of interactions within a system which create feedbacks and nonlinear responses to management interventions. This in turn, can give rise to unintended consequences, including degraded alternative stable states. Degraded alternative stable states may resist restoration practices that simply try to recreate historic abiotic conditions. Instead, the re-establishment of functional ecosystem states may depend upon overcoming resistance thresholds (Suding et al. 2004). Despite the conceptual utility of the alternate stable state framework, it has offered few strategies to lower the barriers created by these resistance thresholds. Therefore, the intentional manipulation of ecosystems from one alternative stable state to another remains a critical challenge to management practices. Ecological nucleation is an emerging framework by which to address alternative stable states and promote ecosystem recovery. Nucleation is a process by which an initial patch of a desired state reaches a critical radius that lowers resistance thresholds and catalyzes rapid growth through local positive feedback dynamics. In this way, nucleation embodies vital connections between local scale interactions and landscape scale transitions between alternate stable states. By focusing on local interactions that can initialize an autocatalytic process that spreads in space, application of nucleation theory provides a promising way forward to boost the effectiveness of future management interventions related to alternative stable states that arise from anthropogenic disturbances. The goals of this symposium are to 1) present the ecological theory behind nucleation as it relates to alternative stable states, 2) demonstrate how nucleation can be leveraged to promote ecological recovery, and 3) to promote discussion about future research needs. This symposium will first provide participants with an in-depth look at the ecological underpinnings of nucleation. With this foundation and common vocabulary, we will then explore three detailed examples of nucleation in forest, grassland and salt marsh systems. Each of these examples will show direct connections to nucleation dynamics and demonstrate how nucleation can be leveraged to promote ecosystem recovery.
One-sentence Summary
Nucleation can reduce barriers and facilitate transitions between alternative stable states. This symposium will explore the relevance of nucleation to ecology by first introducing the theoretical conditions for nucleation and then testing the potential to leverage nucleation to promote ecological recovery across a variety of systems.
Organizer
Theo Michaels – University of Kansas, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Co-organizer
James D. Bever – University of Kansas, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Moderator
James D. Bever – University of Kansas, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Speakers
Introducing desirable patches: A nuclear option for ecosystem restoration?
Maarten B. Eppinga, Department of Geography, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland, Theo Michaels, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, Maria J. Santos, Geography, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland and James D. Bever, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS
What’s so positive about positive feedback? Leveraging nucleation dynamics to enhance restoration in tallgrass prairie systems
Theo K. Michaels1,2, Benjamin A. Sikes1,2 and James D. Bever1,2, (1)Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, (2)Kansas Biological Survey, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS
Implications of patch-size dependent feedbacks for the recovery of salt marshes and coastal dunes
Christine Angelini and Hallie Fischman, Environmental Engineering Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
Scaling up spatially-patterned planting methods to restore tropical forest
Karen D. Holl, Environmental Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, Pedro H. S. Brancalion, Department of Forest Sciences, University of São Paulo, Piracicaba, Brazil and Rakan A. Zahawi, Charles Darwin Foundation, Ecuador; Lyon Arboretum, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI
Symposium 9
Root and Rhizosphere Processes Under Drought: Digging Deeper to Enhance Ecosystem Resilience
Thursday, August 5, 2021
7:00 AM – 8:00 AM Pacific Time
Session Description
Global ecosystems face severe challenges from climate change, environmental pollution, and intensive farming. Among these challenges, frequent and intense drought presents a major threat to plants in both natural and managed ecosystems. Roots and the rhizosphere, which includes the countless microorganisms can shape plant responses to drought and hence ecosystem health and resilience. In this session, we focus on how root traits and rhizosphere microbiomes respond to drought in both forest and agro-ecosystems. A deeper knowledge of these vital connections between rhizosphere processes and ecosystem health under drought stress can help us to formulate sustainable forest management practices and drought-resilient crop production. Forests are important in sustaining life on earth as they contribute to many ecosystem services including soil carbon sequestration. Fine root and the associated mycorrhizae which contribute to a majority of soil carbon exhibit high level of plasticity under drought. The different talks will examine recent advances on the morphological, physiological and chemical plasticity of fine roots of different tree species under drought, which is indispensable for tree health. We will further investigate the impact of drought on rhizosphere microbiome, fungal community assembly and the associated changes in plant-microbial interactions. In agroecosystems, we focus on the root phenotypes that mitigate drought effects on crops and harnessing rhizosphere microbiome to impart drought-resilience in crops.
One-sentence Summary
In this symposium, we present interdisciplinary research from diverse ecosystems on root and rhizosphere processes under drought. We focus on how altered plant fitness imparted by roots and rhizosphere microbiome affect ecosystem health and resilience under future climate.
Organizer
Vidya Suseela – Clemson University, Plant and Environmental Sciences
Co-organizer
Ziliang Zhang – Clemson University, Plant and Environmental Sciences
Moderator
Ziliang Zhang – Clemson University, Plant and Environmental Sciences
Speakers
Root chemical plasticity and drought tolerance in trees
Vidya Suseela, Dept. Plant & Environmental Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, SC
Root phenotypic plasticity for drought tolerance and crop improvement
Hannah Schneider, Centre for Crop Systems Analysis, Wageningen University, Wageningen, Netherlands
Harnessing rhizosphere processes for drought-resilience in ecosystems
Alex Williams, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom and Franciska De Vries, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Responses of fungal and bacterial microbiome to drought stress: A review of unifying frameworks
Cheng Gao, State Key Lab of Mycology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Symposium 10
Phyllosphere Microbiomes: Deriving Rules of Community Assembly and Function for Wild and Agricultural Plants
Thursday, August 5, 2021
1:30 PM – 2:30 PM Pacific Time
Session Description
Rapid growth in the field of microbial ecology in recent years has been possible primarily due to technical advances in high-throughput molecular methods, biocomputing, and vital connections among collaborative scientists. The number of talks at ESA’s annual meeting focusing on microbiomes has increased over the past few years, highlighting growing interest in this topic. The proposed session will explore our understanding of the factors that mediate phyllosphere (above-ground portions of the plant) microbiome assembly and function in agricultural and natural habitats, and consider the potential for identifying general principles. Talks will focus primarily on the leaf microbiome, which has received considerably less attention than below-ground plant microbiomes. This is so, despite the importance of plant leaves for photosynthesis and other essential plant functions, and the potential impact of the microbiome on these functions. Talks in our session will focus on key factors predicted to shape structure and function in agricultural and natural habitats, including vital interactions among microbes within a community. Group discussion will consider the potential for defining general principles in microbiome assembly and function across agricultural and natural systems. The session will also highlight the potential for collaborative and synthetic research across the interface between natural and agricultural systems, particularly through cross-systems analyses tapping into existing research platforms (LTAR, LTER, NEON), and for leveraging of national and international initiatives (RCNs, International working groups) to achieve cross-system syntheses. Participants will be encouraged to contribute to post-meeting preparation of a synthesis white paper highlighting rules of assembly and function for wild and agricultural microbiomes, as well as to engage in ongoing research and training activities through the National Science Foundation, Agricultural Microbiomes RCN. This session responds directly to the conference theme “Vital connections in ecology” by focusing on how key insights into microbiome ecology, including the importance of microbial interactions for determining microbiome composition and function, have been derived from collaborative research efforts.
One-sentence Summary
Plant microbiomes influence plant productivity in natural and agricultural landscapes, yet there has been little integration across systems. Talks will provide background for discussion on deriving rules for microbiome assembly and function across managed and natural landscapes.
Organizer
Posy E. Busby – Oregon State University, Botany and Plant Pathology
Co-organizer
Maggie Wagner – University of Kansas, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Linda L. Kinkel – University of Minnesota, Plant Pathology
Moderator
Posy E. Busby – Oregon State University, Botany and Plant Pathology
Speakers
The microbiome of sorghum phyllosphere mucilage and wax: A role for host resilience?
Marco Mechan-Llontop1, John Mullet2 and Ashley Shade1,3,4, (1)Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, (2)Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, (3)Department of Microbial and Molecular Genetics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, (4)Plant Soil and Microbial Sciences, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
Polygenic heritability of the Populus trichocarpa foliar microbiome
Devin R. Leopold, Botany and Plant Pathology, Oregon State University, Shawn Brown, Biology, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, Daniel Jacobson, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Posy E. Busby, Botany and Plant Pathology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR
Host genetic by environment interactions in crop and wild plant microbiomes
Briana K. Whitaker1,2,3, Qing Chai2, Natalie S. Christian2,4, Keith Clay2,5, Christine V. Hawkes3 and Heather L. Reynolds2, (1)Mycotoxin Prevention & Applied Microbiology, USDA, Agricultural Research Service, National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research, Peoria, IL, (2)Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, (3)Plant and Microbial Biology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, (4)Biology, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, (5)Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
Soil nutrient inputs shift endophytic phenotypes in a manner consistent with a significant role for species interactions in community assembly
Michael R. Fulcher1, Seth A. Spawn-Lee2, Zoe A. Hansen3, Mitch Johnson4, Zewei Song5, Georgiana May6, Eric W. Seabloom7, Elizabeth T. Borer7 and Linda L. Kinkel8, (1)Foreign Disease-Weed Science Research Unit, USDA-ARS, (2)University of Wisconsin-Madison, (3)Michigan State University, (4)University of Minnesota, (5)Beijing Genomics Institute, (6)Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, (7)Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN, (8)Plant Pathology, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN
