Dr. Serra-Willow Buchanan

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Hello! I am a plant ecologist who has assessed both tropical and temperate agroecosystems, and the role that management plays in functional plant trait expression. In Costa Rica, I investigated intraspecific variation in leaf and root traits across nutrient (fertilization) and light (shade tree) gradients in coffee agroforestry systems. In southern Ontario, I worked with the Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Program to investigate the relationship between functional plant trait diversity (leaves and roots) and carbon dynamics (soil CO2 efflux, litter mineralization and soil priming effects). Currently, I am interested in investigating how microplastics might disrupt well-established plant trait spectrums (leaf and root-economic spectrum), and the downstream consequences this could have on plant performance, microbial functioning, and nutrient cycling, using greenhouse experiments and field trials. 

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