- Friday, February 3, 2017
- 1:30 PM–2:30 PM
- Science Building 010
Lisa Tiemann, Assistant Professor of Soil Biology, Michigan State University
Increasing plant biodiversity in non-agricultural systems has been experimentally linked to increases in productivity, nutrient availability, ecosystem stability and resource use efficiency, but the consequences of crop rotational diversity in agroecosystems remains uncertain. In particular, the positive benefits of plant biodiversity on below-ground processes have mostly been observed in natural systems. Mechanistic insights into below-ground responses to rotational diversity are needed to predict how the global expansion of monocultures and simple rotations are influencing important soil and ecosystem functions. This information is also critical for developing more productive low-input agricultural systems, which rely on plant-soil interactions to sustain soil fertility. In this presentation, Tiemann expands upon a combination of analytical and experimental work that begins to elucidate the rotational diversity effects on below-ground processes that lead to enhanced soil services in agroecosystems.
