Dr. Marney Isaac
“Emergent environmental and social properties of agroecosystems”
Friday Jan 16
3:30 in SNRE (1028 Dana)
Marney Isaac, Assistant Professor and Canada Research Chair in Agroecosystems & Development, conducts interdisciplinary research on plant strategies and the nutrient economy of agroecological systems while concurrently charting the human dimension of agroecosystem management. Her research provides mechanistic insights into the ecological principles, nutrient cycles, and plant-soil interactions that govern the structure and function of agricultural landscapes, with particular attention on identification of strategies for environmental services, system resilience and sustainable livelihoods. Her research approach makes use of a diverse set of technical tools and employs various temporal and spatial scales: from mechanistic manipulative trials at the rhizosphere scale to large agroecosystem dynamics. She also supervises an international research program investigating agrarian management networks and environmental governance, with an emphasis on understanding innovation in large social-agroecological systems. She has published widely in environmental science, agronomic and multi-disciplinary journals including Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, Agronomy for Sustainable Development and Ecology and Society.
Abstract: Innovative approaches to agricultural land management can minimize the environmental and economic risks associated with unprecedented levels of soil degradation, fertilizer use and land use change. These challenges are magnified by a global need for improved food security and a rising interest in ecosystem services. This talk will cover major aspects of my research program in response to these challenges by examining plant performance in modified and diversified landscapes, particularly agroforestry systems. I will outline the use of novel techniques to quantify the role of plant diversity and functional traits in both temperate and tropical systems. I will also illustrate the social-environmental interactions at play in such landscapes with a critical examination of socio-spatial dynamics of land management.
