CREAFTalk with Angélica González - Elementary: From Elements to Traits and Ecosystems

Chemical elements are the building blocks of life, yet their proportions vary widely across organisms and environments. In this talk, I show how ecological stoichiometry links organismal physiology to species interactions, food webs, and ecosystem functioning across scales. I introduce a functional stoichiometry perspective in which elements constrain resource allocation to competing functions such as growth, defense, and reproduction, generating ecological trade-offs and shaping species niches. Using examples from global syntheses and natural microecosystems, including bromeliads and pitcher plants, I examine how temperature and nutrient availability influence organismal carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P), and the ecological consequences of this variation.

Who is Angélica González?

Dr. Angélica L. González is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biology and the Center for Computational and Integrative Biology at Rutgers University–Camden. Her research integrates ecological stoichiometry, trait-based ecology, and ecosystem ecology to understand how environmental change shapes organisms, species interactions, and ecosystem functioning across ecological scales. Her lab combines experiments, field studies, and large-scale data syntheses across aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems to examine how temperature, nutrient availability, and resource quality influence ecological strategies, trophic interactions, and biodiversity responses to global change.

González has received funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation, including an NSF CAREER Award, as well as multiple international grants from institutions including the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), the Center for Ecological Research, Kyoto University, in Japan and the INRAE in France. She was also awarded the Rutgers Board of Trustees Research Fellowship for Scholarly Excellence in recognition of her research contributions.