Welcome to the Soper Lab in the Department of Biology and School of Environment at McGill University
Our research explores the interface between plant physiology and ecosystem nutrient cycling. What physiological and chemical traits shape plant nutrient uptake? And how do these plant traits drive ecosystem processes such as soil nutrient availability, productivity and trace gas emissions? We work across a range of biomes (with a current focus on tropical forests), and are especially fascinated by drivers and responses to a range of global change processes.
Our research explores the interface between plant physiology and ecosystem nutrient cycling. What physiological and chemical traits shape plant nutrient uptake? And how do these plant traits drive ecosystem processes such as soil nutrient availability, productivity and trace gas emissions? We work across a range of biomes (with a current focus on tropical forests), and are especially fascinated by drivers and responses to a range of global change processes.
News
Photo credit: Maddie Vincent
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March 2021: It's a month for papers! Very excited to announce that a new roadmap for designing and implementing N fixation measurements led by Fiona is out now in Methods in Ecology and Evolution! This paper brings together decades of wisdom from a big group of collaborators. Fiona also has a complementary synthesis of conversion ratios used for acetylene reduction assays for N fix out in Biogeochemistry, and a new review on using stable isotopes to understand plant-environment interactions. Keep your eyes peeled for the culmination of our National Geographic Amazon project out in a few days!
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We are also excited to welcome undergrads Emily and Natalie to work with us this summer, and Ana who will join us as a PhD student this fall. Mia has her big greenhouse experiment planted, and Caroline is contributing to a new review paper by the Tropiroot group!
Aug 202o: Fiona's Global Change Biology paper on invasive mangroves and carbon storage won the Ecological Society of America's Gene Likens paper award! Thanks to the Biogeosciences section for supporting early career scientists.
Jun 2020: Check out this great article in the Washington Post about our latest field campaign exploring the potential to use volcanically elevated CO2 to study climate change in tropical forests. Our work was also featured in New Scientist magazine.
Nov 2019: After a mammoth effort by a huge team, our new comprehensive handbook on methods for climate change experiments is out now
Jul 2019: Fiona's first trip to the Amazon was both mind blowing (baby sloths!) and productive (working group on global change and the biogeochemical future of the Basin): thanks to the National Geographic Society for hosting. Our synthesis will be presented at the 2020 ESA and AGU meetings.
Jun 2019: The first INCyTE RCN meeting is a wrap! We'll be launching many new projects and syntheses over the next year. If you're interested in getting involved, submit to our 'Coupled Biogeochemical Cycles' AGU session
Apr 2019: Want to learn more about using stable isotopes to measure nitrogen fixation? Fiona's recent talk at the the University of Michigan Early Career Scientists Symposium (Stable Isotopes in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation) is now up on Youtube.
Feb 2019: We have a new Concepts & Synthesis paper out in Ecology, showing that Paleotropical forests allocate proportionally more biomass to wood (vs leaves) than than their Neotropical counterparts, suggesting that these Paleotropical forests are hotspots for tropical C storage.
Jan 2019: Our recent Proceedings B paper showing that leaf cutter ants engineer greenhouse gas hot spots in tropical rainforests was featured in Science magazine, New Scientist, and Gizmodo!
Aug 202o: Fiona's Global Change Biology paper on invasive mangroves and carbon storage won the Ecological Society of America's Gene Likens paper award! Thanks to the Biogeosciences section for supporting early career scientists.
Jun 2020: Check out this great article in the Washington Post about our latest field campaign exploring the potential to use volcanically elevated CO2 to study climate change in tropical forests. Our work was also featured in New Scientist magazine.
Nov 2019: After a mammoth effort by a huge team, our new comprehensive handbook on methods for climate change experiments is out now
Jul 2019: Fiona's first trip to the Amazon was both mind blowing (baby sloths!) and productive (working group on global change and the biogeochemical future of the Basin): thanks to the National Geographic Society for hosting. Our synthesis will be presented at the 2020 ESA and AGU meetings.
Jun 2019: The first INCyTE RCN meeting is a wrap! We'll be launching many new projects and syntheses over the next year. If you're interested in getting involved, submit to our 'Coupled Biogeochemical Cycles' AGU session
Apr 2019: Want to learn more about using stable isotopes to measure nitrogen fixation? Fiona's recent talk at the the University of Michigan Early Career Scientists Symposium (Stable Isotopes in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation) is now up on Youtube.
Feb 2019: We have a new Concepts & Synthesis paper out in Ecology, showing that Paleotropical forests allocate proportionally more biomass to wood (vs leaves) than than their Neotropical counterparts, suggesting that these Paleotropical forests are hotspots for tropical C storage.
Jan 2019: Our recent Proceedings B paper showing that leaf cutter ants engineer greenhouse gas hot spots in tropical rainforests was featured in Science magazine, New Scientist, and Gizmodo!
