Ecology

I am seeking highly motivated doctoral students to join the Microbial Ecology research group in the Department of Ecology, Evolution & Organismal Biology (EEOB).

My research group studies the consequences of global change to plant and soil-microbial communities and ecosystem carbon and nitrogen cycling.  We are interested in identifying how microbial community structure relates to microbial physiology and function and connecting this understanding to field measurements of ecosystem processes. 

Kirsten Hofmockel is an assistant professor in the Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology Department at Iowa State University.  She directs the Microbial Ecology Laboratory, which focuses on connecting microscale mechanism to ecosystem-scale biogeochemical processes.
khof@iastate.edu
515-294-2589

Human activities are altering global carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycles at an unprecedented rate.  It is unclear how significant changes in global elemental cycles will affect ecosystem functions, such as primary productivity or C storage over the long-term.  My research aims to understand how plant-microbe interactions mediate ecosystem-specific responses to global climate change.  This research connects microbial processes to ecosystem functions to yield new insights into microbial ecology and elemental cycling.  Research in my laboratory focuses on three main question