In this recording from June 9, 2021, learn how the University of Alberta's Justine Karst and Aneri Garg are restoring life on land and below water.
The two explore restoration issues and share their work rebuilding coral reefs and using mycorrhizal fungi to renew forests. Valerie Miller, coordinator of the Land Reclamation International Graduate School, facilitates discussion between the two and the World Environment Day audience.
World Environment Day draws our attention to threats to the Earth’s ecosystems. 2021's theme “Reimagine. Recreate. Restore” encourages us to consider the diverse ways people are restoring our ecosystems, from growing trees and cleaning up coastlines to changing diets and rewilding cities.
Speakers bio:
Justine Karst is a University of Alberta associate professor and mycorrhizal ecologist who does much of her research in the boreal forest. Her lab studies the mycorrhizal ecology of forests. Mycorrhizas are symbioses formed between roots and fungi, and play important roles in forest recovery after disturbances, carbon cycling, and formation of soils. Through a combination of field, lab and greenhouse experiments, the lab learns about mycorrhizas and applies this knowledge to maintain and restore forests on the landscape. She is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Ecology and was named ALES Teacher of the Year in 2019 and ENCS Professor of the Year in 2020.
Aneri Garg is a recent M.Sc. graduate from the University of Alberta. Her research focused on the effects of marine restoration on community dynamics and ecosystem assemblages using coral reefs as a model ecosystem. She developed a novel method to create artificial habitats for habitat selection research using interdisciplinary techniques from engineering, art and paleontology called 3D-SPMC (3D scan, print, mould cast) and used techniques in ecological modeling to disentangle habitat features which may enhance their selection and use by dependent organisms. She is a previous research fellow at the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Florida and at the Cape Eleuthera Institute in The Bahamas. She now works at the Bamfield Marine Science Centre where she is helping to develop a webinar series on climate action featuring scientists, Indigenous knowledge keepers, fishers and citizen scientists.
Valerie Miller (moderator) completed her PhD in land reclamation at the University of Alberta in 2019, building soils using waste material at a diamond mine in northern Canada. During her PhD she also volunteered with outreach organizations Telus World of Science, Nature Kids, and Alberta Envirothon. Now in her work with the Land Reclamation International Graduate School and Future Energy Systems, Valerie helps share research with broad audiences through lab tours, classroom visits, video creation, speaking engagements, and more.
4 ноя 2021
