“Ecosystem responses to climate change depend on the hidden world beneath our feet.”That’s the title of the virtual talk that Colleen Iversen, distinguished staff scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, will deliver in honor of Earth Day to Friends of ORNL at noon Tuesday, April 19. Iversen said that she and her colleagues seek to understand “the secret lives of plant roots hidden beneath the soil surface” as they try to answer “at the millimeter scale a global question: how will ecosystems respond to the climate of the future?” She leads a team that curates the largest root trait database in the world.The FORNL talk is open to the public. To view the virtual lecture, click on the talk title on the homepage of the www.fornl.org website and click on the Zoom link near the top of the page describing the lecture.Below is Iversen’s summary of what she will talk about.“Climate change is a tangible reality that affects our daily lives. The past decade was the hottest on record, and extreme events such as wildfires, hurricanes and flooding are becoming more frequent and intense. These events and other consequences of climate change pose serious threats to communities, national security and the economy. “The Environmental Sciences Division and Climate Change Science Institute at ORNL lead several one-of-a-kind climate experiments for the Department of Energy. In this research field, scientists work …
ORNL scientist to speak on plant root responses to climate change – Oakridger
