13 December2021, 17:00 CET - - Is wildfire a “biological volcano”? Tracking smoke as a dispersal vector for plant pathogens and other organisms

Leda Kobziar

Associate Professor, Wildland Fire Science, University of Idaho, https://kobziarfireecology.weebly.com/

Wildland fires emit trillions of grams of particulate matter to the atmosphere globally each year. Recent field and lab-based biomass burning experiments have shown that high concentrations of viable and diverse bacteria, fungi, and archaea accompany particulate matter emissions in smoke. Smoke plumes from high intensity fire often exceed the boundary layer and enter the free troposphere, then travel around the world depositing the content of the plume. Numerous organisms of relevance to plant pathology have been identified in smoke using both culture-based and amplicon sequencing methods. This seminar will demonstrate the application of smoke and coupled fire-atmosphere models to predict the biological dispersal potential of smoke from wildland fires. The implications for biological teleconnections among ecosystems and pathogen epidemiology will be explored.