TAKE A LOOK AT OUR CONFERENCE SPEAKERS!

IMASL, CONICET- Universidad Nacional de San Luis, Argentina.

“Dual-mycorrhizal plants, their ecology and relevance” – March 6^th: Ecology, environment and society, at 2.15 pm.

Dr. François Teste got a B.Sc at the University of Montreal in 1999, a M.Sc. at Simon Fraser University in 2002, and a Ph.D. at The University of British Columbia in 2008. He moved from the University of Western Australia to Argentina in early 2015, and as a belowground functional ecologist, he studies the role of soil biota in tree invasion and maintenance of biodiversity. He now holds a permanent research position in CONICET. He continues to collaborate with UWA researchers Michael Renton, Hans Lambers, Etienne Laliberté, and Benjamin Turner on plant-soil interactions. Together they hold a UWA – Research Collaboration Award entitled Plant-soil interactions through space and time: forecasts and ecological relevance. All his contributions can be found online at https://scholar.google.com.au/citations?user=U0y7xinjXswC&hl=en

University of Florida, USA.

“The biogeography and diversity of ectomycorrhizal fungi across different biomes in South America” – March 7^th: Biodiversity and Physiology at 2.15 pm.

Dr. Matthew E. Smith is an Associate Professor in the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Florida and is also curator of the Fungal Herbarium at the Florida Museum of Natural History. Dr. Smith studies fungal ecology, evolution, and systematics and much of his work has focused on the biology of plant-symbiotic ectomycorrhizal fungi and fungi that form hypogeous sequestrate fruiting bodies (truffles). Dr. Smith has studied and collected fungi in both tropical northern South America (the Guiana Shield) and temperate southern South America (Patagonia). To see all Dr. Smith’s contributions visit: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=EKc73zEAAAAJ&hl=en

University of Tartu, Estonia.

“Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi: Under the pressure of environmental change” – March 8^th: Sustainable development and management, at 2.15 pm.

Dr. Maarja Öpik is an expert in ecology of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. She obtained her PhD in University of Tartu in 2004, hold a Marie Curie Post-doctoral Fellowship at the Scottish Crop Research Institute (now The James Hutton Institute), UK, in 2006-2008, and has since then worked at the University of Tartu. She established a database for AM fungal sequences and ecological data (MaarjAM database), which is by now a widely used tool in AM fungal ecology. Her current research focuses on AM fungal diversity patterns at different spatial scales, AM fungal species concept, and AM fungal applications. Dr Öpik is also editor in the journal New Phytologist. For more details about her work and access to her publications visit: https://www.botany.ut.ee/planteco/en/staff/maarja_opik.html

ECyC, IPEHCS - CONICET - Universidad Nacional del Comahue, Argentina

C03 “Women and days: Female roles in historical perspective”

Special Conference on March 8^th at 8.45 am.

Dr. Laura Marcela Méndez is Licenciada and Professor in History, Doctor in History and specialist in women and gender studies. Professor of undergraduate and postgraduate studies at the Universidad Nacional del Comahue and professor at the Universidad Nacional de Rosario. She is a researcher at the ECyC / IPEHCS-CONICET-UNCo, Bariloche, and at the Interdisciplinary Center for Gender Studies Enplural. She is a specialist in Social Sciences and cultural studies in Northern Patagonia, from a gender perspective. She has authored or co-authored 13 books and more than 50 articles related to the history, social sciences and education, all from a gender and regional perspective. She has given seminars on feminist methodology in Argentina and abroad in places like Germany, Spain, Mexico, Chile and Brazil.

CONICET and Universidad Nacional de Quilmes, Argentina

C04 “New paradigms in agricultural soil microbiology” –

March 8^th: Sustainable development and management, at 9.00 am

Dr. Luis Wall has a PhD in Biochemistry (Universidad Nacional de La Plata), and a postdoctoral degree in Plant Physiology in Umeå, Sweden. He is Principal Researcher of CONICET, Professor at Universidad Nacional de Quilmes and Head of the Soil Biology Lab UNQ. His expertise is in soil biochemistry and microbiology, plant microbe interactions, biological nitrogen fixation and symbiosis. He has written a scientific popularization book "Plants, Bacteria, Fungi, my Wife, the Cook and the Lover" published by Siglo XXI Editores (in Spanish), about interactions between plants and microorganisms, one of his research topics. He has supervised 9 PhD theses, co-supervised one and supervised a bachelor thesis.