Directing diversity: can microbes be harnessed to reduce our environmental impact?
December 19, 2023 12:00pm
Dr. Terrence Bell
Microorganisms guide many soil processes, including those that we try to control through chemical inputs. However, they are much harder to manage than other components of human-controlled systems, like plant composition, nutrient concentrations, and water availability. Many factors contribute to this challenge, including rapid microbial turnover and our inability to consistently exclude microbes that we classify as “pests” or “weeds”. Even compared to other managed microbial systems (e.g. gut microbiomes), soils present unique challenges, as they are open to many sources of microbial influx and maintain diverse microbial seed banks. Our group approaches this challenge from multiple perspectives, and I will present on recent work that explores the potential for microbial management in soils.
Zoom link: https://utoronto.zoom.us/j/89190416549
Meeting ID: 891 9041 6549
Passcode: 249280
Bio
Terrence Bell is a soil microbiologist and ecologist. His first faculty appointment was at The Pennsylvania State University from 2017-2022, after working as a postdoctoral fellow at l’Université de Montréal and Cornell University. He earned his B.Sc.H. from Queen’s University, his M.Sc. from Western University, and his Ph.D. from McGill University.
