Search Results for: ge r

Low intensity fire burning through understory of a mixed conifer forest.

Fire and Disturbance

Fire plays an important role in controlling structure and function in many ecosystems. Fire regimes across the globe are changing as a result of human management and climate change. Research in Ecoss seeks to understand feedbacks between fire disturbance and ecosystem structure and function in multiple contexts, from savannas in South Africa […]

ECOSS Prospective Student Retreat

Winter 2016 Prospective Student Retreat Was Great Ecoss hosted prospective graduate students for a two day visit this winter in February. The next Student Retreat will take place in the winter/spring 2017. Check back here for details as they become available. Attendance was by invitation only, and prospective students had […]

Green microscopic microbes, both tubular and round.

The Role of Soil Processes in the Global Carbon Cycle

When new carbon enters soil, especially carbon that is easily assimilated and decomposed by soil microorganisms, a chain reaction occurs leading to the breakdown of older soil carbon, carbon that would otherwise have remained stable. Current theory does not explain this chain reaction, sometimes called the “priming effect.” But understanding […]

Virus bacteria cells as seen in a three-dimensional microscopic rendering.

Human Microbiome

Ecoss studies the microbial communities of the human body and the implications for disease including STDs and HIV, as well as analyzing the microbial community using bioinformatics, community ecology theory and Bayesian statistical modeling.