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K-State Today

May 26, 2016

Geography professor attends ecological research project workshop

Submitted by Berangere Leys

Kendra McLauchlan, associate professor of geography, was the principal investigator for the third Novus Research Coordination Network ecological research project workshop. Thirty researchers from around the world attended the workshop May 15-22 at Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve at the University of Minnesota.

The primary goal of the Novus Research Coordination Network is to unify records of disturbance and ecosystem response over multiple timescales. Disturbances — discrete events that reduce biomass — are important components of almost all ecosystems on Earth. They have dramatic consequences for landscape function, plant composition, stream chemistry and elemental cycling. In particular, disturbance is a critical component of carbon and nitrogen cycles on local to global scales. There is evidence that the type, magnitude and frequency of disturbance events are changing in the 21st century.