University Calendar
Food web structure and dynamics across space and time
Angélica L. González, Rutgers University, presents this week's seminar. Watch the seminar on Zoom.
About Dr. González
I am a broadly curious ecologist, but my research interests are all tied together by the understanding of the ways in which the availability, storage and transfer of energy and matter affect biodiversity, trophic interactions and ecosystem processes. I use experiments, observation, data synthesis, and a variety of analytical tools (e.g., stable isotopes) to answer questions that integrate biodiversity (taxonomic and functional), species interactions and nutrient dynamics. I completed my Ph.D. at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, and was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Zoology and the Biodiversity Research Centre at the University of British Columbia, Canada. I am now an assistant professor at Rutgers University, NJ.
About the Seminar
Energy and material harvesting are the most fundamental processes for living organisms. These processes occur in consumer–resource interactions, which provide the backbone of ecological and evolutionary dynamics as all organisms must acquire resources to survive and reproduce. In this talk, I will provide a broad overview of my research program, which focuses on how energy and matter constrain the structure and functioning of ecological systems. The first project I will discuss focuses on the effects of nitrogen and phosphorous deposition on the structure and function of aquatic ecosystems. I will also talk about the energetic and material costs of spider web-building processes and spider-prey interactions. Finally, I will discuss how integrating paleoecological inference with isotope geochemistry can help understand the dynamics of ancient and modern communities and food webs across temporal and spatial scales.