Dear colleagues, We’d like to direct your attention to an exciting Organized Oral Session at the Ecological Society of America meeting in Albuquerque, NM in August 2009:
OOS 4125: Missing links in the root-soil continuum There are still times available in the session to accommodate interested speakers who submit an abstract by February 26th. General information on the Annual Meeting can be found at: http://www.esa.org/albuquerque/. Soil organic matter (SOM) is the foundation of a sustainable ecosystem, but SOM dynamics are fueled by complex processes that span ecological disciplines. Fine plant roots are an important source of organic inputs to the soil because of their short lifespan and intimate association with the soil profile. However, ecologists currently have a limited understanding of the processes that drive the transformation of root detritus into SOM because there are few studies that explicitly link plant dynamics directly with soil characteristics. Our objective in this session is to synthesize disconnected pieces of knowledge from soil- and root-centric studies into an integrated understanding of important belowground ecosystem processes such as soil carbon and nitrogen cycling. Our speakers will address two key questions: (1) Can we synthesize an overarching framework for understanding the continuum from plant root inputs to long-term SOM pools from current studies? (2) What new studies or tools are needed to facilitate our understanding of how plant dynamics drive belowground processes such as SOM formation and ecosystem carbon and nitrogen cycling? We welcome contributions from ecologists of all backgrounds that work at the root-soil interface. In particular, we feel that the session would benefit from the inclusion of research that (i) interfaces between the root decay continuum and soil nutrient cycling, (ii) investigates how microbial dynamics influence the transformation of roots into SOM, (iii) focuses on extending our current understanding of root and SOM dynamics deeper in the soil profile or at global scales, or (iv) investigates potential impacts of atmospheric and climatic change on the sustainability of the root-soil continuum. We envision that this session will have broad appeal to ecologists interested in belowground processes. Topics will range from the effects of root exudation, chemistry, and soil organisms on the transition of roots to SOM, to the influence of soil attributes on the stabilization of root- derived SOM. Best regards, Sarah O’Brien, University of Illinois at Chicago Colleen Iversen, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
