INTRODUCING THE DEBATE MODERATORS!

Universidad Austral de Chile, Chile

Debate moderator: Mycorrhizal Ecology in South America - weaknesses and strengths

March 6^th: Ecology, environment and society, at 9.45 am

Full Professor at Instituto de Ciencias Ambientales y Evolutivas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Austral de Chile, Doktors der Naturwissenschaften (Dr. rer. nat.) University Justus Liebig, Giessen, Germany. His research interest is about biogeochemistry, mycorrhizal and plant ecology of temperate rainforest ecosystems. Since 1991, he has been advisor of undergraduate, Master and PhD students in the Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile. He has been funded by several Research Chilean Grants by Chilean Science Foundation (Fondecyt) and he is part of a fruitful International scientific collaborative network. http://icaev.cl/academicos/roberto-godoy/.

Instituto de Ciencias Agronómicas y Veterinarias,

Universidad de O'Higgins, Chile

Debate moderator: Novel tools and methods for the study of mycorrhizal fungi

March 7^th: Biodiversity and Physiology, at 9.45 am.

Dr. César Marín is a Posdoctoral Researcher at the University of O’Higgins and at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. He is an Environmental Biologist (2013) from the Jorge Tadeo Lozano University in Colombia, and Doctor in Sciences mention Ecology and Evolution (2018), from the Austral University of Chile, with several research stays at the University of Hannover, Germany, and at the University of Tartu, Estonia. He is the founder of the South American Mycorrhizal Research Network.His main research interest is Soil Ecology, studying the plant-soil-ecosystems continuum, specifically how soil microorganisms affect and are affected by different biogeochemical cycles, specifically focusing on soil fungal ecology, and using community ecology, metagenomics and bioinformatics tools. For more information about his work, please visit his personal website: https://cesar-marin.com/

IPATEC, CONICET

Universidad Nacional del Comahue, Argentina

Debate moderator: Insights in management and sustainable production involving mycorrhizal fungi

March 8th: Sustainable development and management, at 9.45 am.

Dr. Maria Cecilia Mestre is a researcher from CONICET, based in Bariloche, and the focus of her work are yeasts from Patagonian soil-plant systems. She is interested on the interaction of yeasts with plant and microorganisms, including mycorrhizae; as well as the potential use of yeasts as plant growth promoter. She is a Biologist from Universidad de Buenos Aires and Doctor in Biology from Univesidad Nacional del Comahue. While her formation was on microbial ecology and diversity, she currently studies native yeasts (and other microorganisms) as biotechnological tools to enhance agro-forestall production in cold-temperate climates such as Patagonian´s.