2008 Seminar Series

Kiona Ogle
Departments of Botany & Statistics
University of Wyoming
http://www.uwyo.edu/oglelab
10:00 - 11:00 a.m.
Building 1505, D. J. Nelson Auditorium

Data-model integration for understanding belowground ecosystem carbon dynamics

Developing a mechanistic understanding of belowground ecosystem dynamics is critical to understanding and forecasting whole-ecosystem behavior. Although significant advances have been made in belowground ecosystem ecology, a number of challenges remain. One particularly important problem is the ability to rigorously partition the effects of different belowground processes and to identify how they vary across space and time. This seminar will present a data-model integration approach for reconstructing processes related to belowground carbon dynamics that integrates field experiments, modern statistical and computational tools, and ecological process modeling. The approach employs a hierarchical Bayesian (HB) framework that simultaneously analyzes diverse data sources within the context of process-based models. Two interrelated examples related to soil carbon dynamics in a desert system will be presented. The first describes an HB analysis of a soil incubation experiment to infer depth-dependent patterns of microbial activity and carbon substrate availability. The second couples diverse data sources (e.g., soil incubation, environmental, microbial, carbon flux, and stable isotope data) with isotope mixing and soil respiration models to partition sources of soil CO2 efflux. Both examples illustrate challenging problems that cannot be satisfactorily addressed without modern data-model integration approaches.

Host: Mac Post, 865.576.3431