Brian Ohsowski

Ohsowski teaches courses focused on restoration ecology and conservation biology at IES. He delivers course content necessary to understand the current state of human impacted systems by emphasizing approaches and challenges in applied ecology. He is interested in contemporary threats to biodiversity, including habitat fragmentation, the spread of invasive species, and global climate change. Students will understand how the science of ecological systems can be used to address issues in habitat conservation and restoration. In addition, he is actively engaged in the future career success of his students. He spends time working with students on skills necessary to compose cover letters/resumes and relay the importance of ecological internships.

As a research scientist, Ohsowski is invested in the preservation and, when necessary, restoration of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. His research strives to counteract human-induced impacts on the landscape that range from localized disturbances (i.e. deforestation/resource extraction) to global climate change. Ohsowski's research interests investigate practical, ecologically-based methods to assist the recovery of plant, animal, and soil communities after habitat disturbance. In his research he integrates remediation tools that reduce human waste and sequester greenhouse gases in addition to creating quality native habitat. Such amendments can include soil additions (i.e municipal compost, biochar, biosolids) or biotic inoculation (i.e. arbuscular mycorrhizae, n-fixing bacteria, earthworms). With the addition of these amendments, human waste streams can be reduced, biofuels produced, and habitat recovery can be accelerated.

Ohsowski's current research focus is two-fold: (1) He investigates soil biogeochemical cycles, soil food webs, and native plant community recovery in severely disturbed mine areas. (2) He is part of a wetland ecology team at Loyola University Chicago which investigates Typha x glauca invasion dynamics in coastal Great Lakes marshes. For more information, please visit his website.