Assistant Professor Cynthia Kallenbach¹

¹McGill University, Quebec, in the Department of Natural Resource Sciences Faculty of Agricultural and the Environmental Science

Abstract:

Soil microbial communities— their structure, biotic and abiotic interactions, and metabolic functions— directly impact both the accumulation and mineralization of soil organic matter. Yet, knowing how microbial communities and their associated traits shape SOM dynamics and the environmental conditions in which they are manifested is a grand challenge. This limits our ability to successfully target or manage microbial communities for SOM processes that facilitate ecosystem services of concern. This presentation will explore, using experimental case studies, how microbial community structure, metabolic tradeoffs, and carbon cycling genes influence SOM transformations from the stable to dissolved pools and considers the feedbacks to crop productivity, drought resiliency, and C sequestration.

Biography:

Cynthia Kallenbach is an Assistant Professor at McGill University, Quebec, in the Department of Natural Resource Sciences Faculty of Agricultural and the Environmental Science. She received her Ph.D. from the University of New Hampshire in Earth and Environmental Science, M.Sc. degrees in International Agriculture Development and in Soil Biogeochemistry at the University of California-Davis, and her B.A. in Geography from Sonoma State University. Her research integrates soil ecology and biogeochemistry to understand soil organic matter turnover and accumulation and microbial-plant interactions influencing carbon and nutrient cycling under land use management and global change.