Cardinale, Brad

Professor and Director, Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research

Topics

» Climate and Energy
» CO2 Capture, Storage and Use
» Energy and Water

Biography

Brad Cardinale uses theory, experiments, and observational studies to address questions aimed at understanding how human alteration of the environment impacts the biotic diversity of communities and, in turn, how this loss can affect fluxes of energy and matter that are fundamental to all biological processes. He focuses on this topic because he believes that global loss of biodiversity ranks among the most important and dramatic environmental problems in modern history. Yet, even while rates of species extinction are approaching those of prior mass extinctions, we know very little about the different roles that species play in ecosystems. More importantly, we have almost no idea how the well-being of our own species might be linked to the great variety of life that is the most striking feature of our planet.