OEB Seminar Series: Benton Taylor

 Benton Taylor
Assistant Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology
Faculty Fellow of the Arnold Arboretum
Harvard University

Root-microbe interactions and the future of terrestrial carbon capture

Abstract: Plants engage in a variety of interactions with soil bacteria and fungi that help the plants acquire soil resources in exchange for supplying photosynthesized carbon to the microbes. These interactions range from tight symbioses such as nitrogen fixation and mycorrhizal fungi to looser, but still highly impactful, interactions between roots and soil microbes mediated by root exudates. These interactions fundamentally shape patterns of primary productivity and ecosystem carbon storage, but these interactions are shifting under novel environmental conditions induced by global change. This talk features evidence from ecosystems ranging from tropical rainforests to the arctic tundra demonstrating the importance of root microbe interactions for how ecosystems respond to climate change and what these responses will mean for future terrestrial carbon storage.