Open Session (separate registration needed with the workshop organizers)

27 March 2021 | 15:00 - 19:00 (GMT)


Arctic Underground




Contact: Rebecca Hewitt (rebecca.hewitt@nau.edu) and Michelle Mack

The Arctic Underground Network brings together an interdisciplinary team of biologists and ecologists to synthesize what is known about root traits and rhizosphere processes in cold ecosystems - tundra, boreal forest, and peatlands. At ASSW2021 we will hold our second workshop in conjunction with a contributed research session during the ASSW Science Meeting. Our efforts focus on four thematic activities:

  • 1. Synthesize mechanisms by examining the effects of soil warming experiments on root and rhizosphere processes. This will address belowground responses to climate warming at multiple spatial scales utilizing molecular to circumarctic analyses.

  • 2. Explore linkages between leaf and root traits for extrapolation and scaling of ecological processes in cold ecosystems. This will inform unifying concepts that can be used for scaling and modeling ecosystem processes.

  • 3. Add cold soil roots and their symbionts to a "worldwide root economic spectrum," filling in a data gap in global plant traits databases and model parameters.

Integrate traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) of plants and belowground properties into our understanding of Arctic ecosystem change and educate scientists on indigenous perspectives.