Meet our new professors

Professor Jon Lloyd, Chair in Global Ecosystems Function, Department of Life Sciences.

The lecture is free to attend and open to all, but registration in advance in required – register via Eventbrite (external link) for your place.

To interact about this lecture on Twitter, use the hashtag #biosphere.

Abstract

The effect of the Earth’s vegetation and soils in moderating the extent of human-induced carbon dioxide increase and rate of climate change has become increasingly appreciated over recent years.  In this lecture I will explore how this “terrestrial carbon sink” compares with the carbon dioxide taken up by the oceans. I will go on to outline our current understanding of the mechanisms involved in this planetary-scale ‘ecosystem service’, and evaluate how the Earth’s vegetation and soils are expected to respond to –  and affect – future changes in our climate.

In the chair: Professor E.J. Milner-Gulland, Department of Life Sciences and Director – Grand Challenges in Ecosystems and the Environment

Vote of Thanks: Professor Graham Farquhar, Australian National University

Biography

Professor Jon Lloyd became the Chair of Global Ecosystem Function at Imperial College London in July 2013, having previously held professorial positions at James Cook University, University of Queensland, the University of Leeds and the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry. Prior to that he was based at the Australian National University. He was awarded his PhD from the University of Adelaide in 1992.  

Originally a plant physiologist, Jon’s research over the last two decades has concentrated on the development of a mechanistic and integrated understanding of the cycling of nutrients, water and carbon in terrestrial ecosystems with a particular emphasis on boreal and tropical forests as well as tropical savannas and grasslands.