Miquel A. Gonzalez-Meler

Associate Professor
Ph.D in Biology, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain,
and Smithsonian Environmental Research Center

About Dr. Gonzalez-Meler's Research

My research interest areas are in physiological and ecosystem ecology, global change and stable isotope ecology. My laboratory focuses on the study of plant and ecosystem functioning in different global change scenarios and in ecosystem feedbacks on biosphere-atmosphere interactions. My specific interests are:

1- role of plant and ecosystem respiration in the global carbon cycle;
2- effects of environmental change on plant and ecosystem carbon and nutrient cycling, including biotic and abiotic controls on soil processes;
3- understanding the mechanisms of physiological acclimation and adaptation of plants to the environment;
4- use of stable isotopes for understanding physiological and ecosystem processes in urban, agricultural , ruaral and natural areas;
5- developing new stable and radioistopic techniques to study ecosystem processes at various temporal and spatial scales;
6- developing market-based strategies for improving water and air quality through ecological restoration and conservation.

My research is an interdisciplinary effort aim to scale up mechanisms of environmental acclimation and adaptation of plants and soils to ecosystem process and function and their feedbacks on biogeochemical cycles and environmental change. Mechanistic understanding is crucial when predicting the effects and roles of terrestrial ecosystems to global environmental change scenarios.
Some of the research sites include restoration prairies in the Chicago area to understand the potential of ecosystems to mitigate environmental change; crop fields in Illinois to understand the effects of elevated CO2 and ozone on plant productivity; temperate forests in North Carolina and Tenessee to understand the effects of elevated CO2 on forested ecosystems; biosphere 2 center, to develop methodology of the use of stable isotopes in ecosystem studies, or large scale wetland restorations in central Illinois to couple ecosystem restoration with water and air quality and with a market to sustain these services.

Biosketch

Muquel Gonzalez-Meler
Ecology and Evolution
Dept Biological Sciences
University of Illinois, Chicago
845 W. Taylor st.
UIC, 3338 SES
Chicago, IL 60607
Phone: office 312-355-3928
lab 312-3550600 (voice)
Fax: 312-4132435