Drought Structure Project with Raf Otfinowski

Raf Otfinowski is an Associate Professor, in the Department of Biology, at the University of Winnipeg. Originally from Edmonton, Raf has a degree in Environmental Science from U of Alberta and a M.Sc. in biology from the Western University in Ontario. He first came to Manitoba in 2002 for his PhD at the U of Manitoba.

Since then, he has been working in grasslands and prairies in Manitoba, focusing on their conservation, grazing, and management. Raf’s research focuses on understanding links between plants and soils to conserve, manage, and restore prairie ecosystems. He is fascinated by the vast root systems that link plants and soil food webs and hopes to use his research to help understand how grasslands adapt to stress and changing environments.

Through his projects, Raf collaborates with conservation agencies, producers, and land managers, to contribute to the restoration and sustainable use of prairies ecosystems. His most rewarding challenge is to teach students about the evolution and function of grasslands and to learn from producers, Indigenous and community members about the history, cultural uses, and conservation of grasslands in Canada and around the world.

Raf loves travelling around Manitoba with his two dogs and discovering the hidden diversity of Manitoba’s grasslands from the south border, through the Interlake to western Manitoba and Riding Mountain National Park.

Raf has a current project underway with Living Labs Manitoba that focuses on soil carbon in grazed grasslands and pastures. He would be happy to connect with producers who would be willing to allow him access to a wet meadow they are grazing to collect some root and soil samples.

Today Raf joins us to discuss the “Drought Structure Project.” This international project was conducted in many locations to look at the impacts that drought can have by using structures to impose drought conditions.

Through this discussion, Raf tells us what terrestrial ecosystems are and how important it is to improve our understanding of the impact of drought on rangeland ecosystems and prairie communities.

Links mentioned in this episode:

Link to the International Drought Experiment: https://droughtnet.weebly.com/

MBFI Link to Drought Project: https://www.mbfi.ca/rangeland-drought-response

Contact Raf on BlueSky Social @PrairieLab

University of Winnipeg Prairie Lab page link: http://www.prairielab.ca/

University of Winnipeg Biology page link: https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/biology/

The research programs and daily operations at MBFI would not be possible without the funding from the Province of Manitoba, Government of Canada, and Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, as well as the partnership with Manitoba Agriculture, Manitoba Beef Producers (MBP) and Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC).

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