Seminar: Thea Whitman

Tracing soil carbon through a lens of fire ecology for microbes

Fires represent a fundamental ecological disturbance above and belowground, and fire regimes in many regions of the world are changing, with fires often increasing in frequency or severity. While fire ecology is relatively well characterized for larger organisms, our understanding of microbial response to fires is still developing. Through a series of laboratory experiments, experimental burns, and field studies, our research group has taken a systematic approach to develop a framework of fire ecology for soil microbes. Drawing on this framework, stable isotope tracing, experiments with isolates, and biogeochemical modelling, we explore the implications of fires for the soil carbon cycle.