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From May 13-15, 2024, the University of Arizona Ecosystem Genomics Community, participated in the annual Convergence Institute. The Convergence Institute is a 3-day summit meeting that is equal parts science, training, inclusion, professional development, evaluation, and science communication. A student pre-session offers professional development on a variety of topics. Each year, participants hear from a rotating panel about the challenges of ecosystem genomics, then present and– depending on their cohort– receive feedback on their proposed or completed summer research experiences. Students who have completed their NRT requirements are invited to help lead sessions and introduce presentation themes. This report was written by students participating in the team skills and writing workshops presented during the pre-session by Dr. Anne Mook, Mook, a senior team scientist at the Institute for Research in the Social Sciences (IRISS) at Colorado State University. The report includes an executive summary, general components of the institute, objectives, 2024 institute overview, conclusions, a participant directory, organizers and panelist directory, presentation topics by theme and key takeaways, relevance of convergence research, future directions, defining and evaluating Ecosystem Genomics as an emerging field and Appendices. 

Abstract Peatlands are some of the world’s most carbon-dense ecosystems and release substantial quantities of greenhouse gases when degraded. However, conserving peatlands in many tropical areas is challenging due to limited knowledge of their distribution. To address this, we surveyed soils and plant communities in Colombia’s eastern lowlands, where few peatlands have previously been described. We documented peat soils >40 cm thick at 51 of more than 100 surveyed wetlands. We use our data to update a regional peatland classification, which includes a new and possibly widespread peatland type, ‘the white-sand peatland,’ as well as two distinctive open-canopy sub-types. Analysis of peat bulk density and organic matter content from 39 intact peat cores indicates that the average per-area carbon densities of these sites (490–1230 Mg C ha⁻¹, depending on type) is 4–10 times the typical carbon stock of a (non-peatland) Amazonian forest. We used remote sensing to upscale our observations, generating the first data-driven peatland map for the region. The total estimated carbon stock of these peatlands of 1.91 petagrams (Pg C) (2-sigma confidence interval, 0.60–4.22) approaches that of South America’s largest known peatland complex in the northern Peruvian Amazon, indicating that substantial peat carbon stores on the continent have yet to be documented. These observations indicate that tropical peatlands may be far more diverse in form and structure and broadly distributed than is widely understood, which could have important implications for tropical peatland conservation strategies. 

Tree growth and longevity trade-offs fundamentally shape the terrestrial carbon balance. Yet, we lack a unified understanding of how such trade-offs vary across the world’s forests. By mapping life history traits for a wide range of species across the Americas, we reveal considerable variation in life expectancies from 10 centimeters in diameter (ranging from 1.3 to 3195 years) and show that the pace of life for trees can be accurately classified into four demographic functional types. We found emergent patterns in the strength of trade-offs between growth and longevity across a temperature gradient. Furthermore, we show that the diversity of life history traits varies predictably across forest biomes, giving rise to a positive relationship between trait diversity and productivity. Our pan-latitudinal assessment provides new insights into the demographic mechanisms that govern the carbon turnover rate across forest biomes.