Carlos A. Sierra is a research scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Jena, Germany, where he leads a group on Theoretical Ecosystem Ecology. The group, funded by the German Research Foundation through the Emmy Noether Programme, focuses its research on the mathematical understanding of the global carbon cycle, particularly on the time-scales of carbon storage and how global change modifies process rates in the terrestrial biosphere. He obtained his PhD degree from Oregon State University under the supervision of Prof. Mark Harmon, studying in his dissertation theoretical aspects of terrestrial biogeochemical models. Dr. Sierra has made contributions to the theory of soil organic matter dynamics by proposing mathematical generalizations of models with their main ecological principles. In addition, he has contributed to the development of the theory of time scales of biogeochemical cycling by developing mathematical tools for the estimation of ages and transit times of elements in ecosystems.
His talk will be on 'Time scales of carbon sequestration in soils'.
