Event
The Department of Earth & Environmental Science
University of Pennsylvania
Invites you to attend a EES Colloquium
Friday, March 27, 2025 - 3:00 PM
"The world beneath our feet: Deciphering microbial and matrix interactions mediating soil carbon dynamics in a changing world"
There is a complex and undiscovered network of molecular signaling occurring beneath our feet that ultimately determines the fate of soil carbon and the cycling of resources that sustains life on earth. This is especially relevant in the rhizosphere, where this unseen exchange of molecules and stimuli between plant roots and soil microbes regulates microbial community composition, nutrient availability, plant performance, and soil carbon dynamics. Yet our ability to link microbial composition, function and activity to whole soil and ecosystem processes is often confounded by complex geochemical, hydrological, and physical interactions occurring in the soil matrix. This talk will explore how plant-soil-microbe interactions drive fundamental biogeochemical cycles in the soil ecosystem and highlight how these interactions may alter the ability of soils to continue capturing carbon in a changing world.
Dr. Peyton Smith
Associate Professor
Department of Soil and Crop Sciences
Texas A&M University
Dr. Peyton Smith is an Associate Professor in the Soil and Crop Sciences Department at Texas A&M University. Her research focuses on physical, chemical, and biological mechanisms of soil carbon transformations and the persistence of soil organic matter in both managed and natural ecosystems. Dr. Smith received a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin, an M.S. from Yale University, and a B.S. form University of Washington. Prior to joining A&M, she was a postdoctoral researcher at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.