When: Thursday, November 21
Where: Education Building 110
Time: 3-4PM
Dr. Nicole Pietrasiak will be a guest speaker at Boise State University. She will be going over “What Bio Crust can Teach us About Dryland Soils and their Ecology.” If you are interested in meeting with her, sign up here.
Brief Summary
Dr. Pietrasiak received her Diploma (a combined B.S. and M.S. program) at the University of Leipzig, Germany, with a focus on Physical Geography, a M.S. degree in Biology at John Carroll University in Cleveland, OH, and her Ph.D. in Soil and Water Sciences at University of California, Riverside. She conducts research in desert soil ecology, microbial biogeography, algal taxonomy, and phylogenetics. Her research objectives are to: 1) Understand what shapes the diversity, abundance, and distribution of desert microbes; 2) Link these patterns to ecosystem functions; and 3) Characterize and describe unique microscopic dryland algae that fit no established taxa. To date she has described 9 genera and 21 species new to science using a modern approach to algal taxonomy. She is an expert in biological soil crusts and the cyanobacterial flora of terrestrial habitats including soils, rock surfaces, and gypsum deposits. In New Mexico she has active projects at the Jornada Basin, White Sands National Park, Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks Monument, and surrounding public lands.
Biocrust Summary
Biological soil crusts, or biocrusts, are living soil aggregates formed by microbes. These mini-ecosystems are crucial to primary production, fertility, water retention, and soil stability, particularly in drylands. Xerophilic cyanobacteria serve as biocrust ecosystem engineers, establishing a diverse flora even on marginal substrates such as silicate or gypsum sands. Yet the autecology, taxonomy, and landscape dynamics of the biocrust cyanobacteria and their associated microbiomes remain underexplored. In my talk, I will present case studies from North American deserts, highlighting the importance of cyanobacteria-dominated biocrusts in the dryland landscape—a critical feature often overlooked in ecological research and resource management. Using a soil-geomorphic template framework, my research reveals patterns in biocrust microbiome distribution, along with insights into habitat preferences and potential dispersal limitations among biocrust microbes, crucial data for restoration and conservation planning. I will discuss the significant ecosystem services provided by cyanobacteria-dominated biocrusts and introduce unique cyanobacterial taxa we discovered and maintain in culture, each with special sets of traits adapted to harsh dryland conditions.