The Department of Soil and Environmental Sciences is pleased to announce the upcoming Dale Cole Distinguished Lecture in Soil Science on Wednesday, April 22, at 3:30–4:20 p.m. in room 270 of the Soils Building. A reception will follow from 4:40–5:40 p.m.

“The Democracy of Dirt: Linking Microbial and Ecosystem Processes Under Stress”
Josh Schimel, professor in the Environmental Studies Program and Ecology, Evolution & Marine Biology at the University of California-Santa Barbara

Abstract: Soils are the most complex medium for life on Earth. Yet we treat them very simply. We model soil organic matter (SOM) using three pools of C, though we know that SOM is comprised of thousands of discrete molecules. We model microbial processes without microbes in the models though we know there are thousands of different microbial taxa in soil. We get away with this because we treat soils as being in “quasi steady state.” But in many parts of the world that assumption is invalid. Soils experience pulse events regularly: tillage, fire, drying-rewetting cycles, etc. How do soils function under these conditions? How do we treat these dynamics in models? 

This lecture is made possible by the generosity of Dale Cole and the Dale Cole Distinguished Lecture in Soil Science Fund.

For more information, contact Carol Duffy at (608) 262-0485 or cjduffy@wisc.edu.