#22 Roots of change: exploring agroecology with Marney Isaac

Our guest on this episode is Marney Isaac. Marney is a Professor at the University of Toronto-Scarborough and Canada Research Chair in agroecosystems and development. Marney conducts interdisciplinary research on plant strategies and the nutrient economy of agroecosystems. Her lab investigates practices that improve the efficiency of nutrient cycles, optimize plant-soil interactions, and promote landscape scale services in low-input agriculture and agroforestry systems. She draws from mechanistic ecological theory to gain insight into the principles that govern the structure and function of biologically complex agroecosystems. In addition to this type of biophysical analysis, Marney also investigates innovation in social-agroecological systems, particularly the role of informal agrarian networks in agroecosystem management.

In our chat with Marney, we explored the fundamentals of agroecology, including a walk through the multiple scales and topics that agroecology is concerned with: from the small scale dynamics that take place at the root-soil interface, to the assessment of biodiversity and landscape optimization for intercropping and also the social and governance systems that determine how agroecosystems are created, maintained and adapted through time. To explore these different topics, Marney drew from the varied geographical locations that her research has taken her, including Costa Rica, Ghana, France, and recently also into the world of urban ecology, considering the potential for green roof ecosystems to contribute to urban agricultural productivity. Marney is a true interdisciplinary scientist, and it was a pleasure to explore the diversity of her research interests.

Marney's website: https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/labs/misaac/