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Title: The space-time continuum of ecology: Making ecosystem studies scale-aware

Ecosystems and their processes exist in space and evolve in time. In physics, including the atmospheric and oceanic sciences, there is strong desire to developing theory that unites understanding across as many space and time scales as possible. Can we do the same for ecosystem ecology? Maybe, but unification seems elusive. Still, scale-aware thinking in ecology can lend us new insight, especially when new techniques and technologies allow us to resolve across more scales. I’ll share some of those we have gained from work in our lab and with collaborators on mapping of carbon and water cycles, plant traits, and forest and agricultural management.

Dr. Ankur Desai is the Vilas Distinguished Achivement Professor and Department Chair of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at University of Wisconsin-Madison. His lab investigates how regional spatial patterning, scale, and human modification of land-atmosphere exchanges of heat, water, and carbon influence the lower atmosphere, and how those meteorological and climatic responses modify terrestrial ecosystem ecological functioning.