Taye, Zelalem

Zelalem leads an interdisciplinary research group working across agricultural, forest, and urban ecosystems, focusing on ecosystem productivity, sustainability, and resilience in the face of global change. His group actively collaborates with experts in soil science, plant science, plant pathology, plant breeding, computer science, statistics, and other disciplines. Their research integrates wet lab and field research with computational and data-driven approaches.

Research Areas

• Plant and Soil Microbiome – Investigating microbial assembly processes and the role of plant genotype, management practices and environmental factors in shaping microbial communities and function. Using a One Health research approach, we also explore microbiomes across organisms (e.g insects) across agricultural, forest, and urban ecosystems.
• Synthetic Microbial Communities – Designing and testing microbial consortia to enhance plant and soil health and productivity. Our goal is through model consortia to uncover key molecular principles and explore their application in sustainable agriculture and ecosystem restoration.
• Plant and Soil Health – Examining biological and environmental factors that influence plant and soil resilience, including microbial communities, nutrient dynamics, and drought stress.
• Genomic Tools and Ecological Modeling – Developing genomic and computational tools to support climate-resilient plant breeding programs, conservation strategies, and species distribution modeling. Our work integrates large-scale genomics, biodiversity, trait, and environmental databases to improve decision-making in agriculture and natural resource management.
• Non-Wood Forest Products & Sustainable Forest Management – Investigating wild edible mushrooms (ectomycorrhizal fungi) and indigenous knowledge to inform culturally sensitive and ecologically sustainable forest management practices. We examine the impact of land use change, climate change and invasive species on non-wood forest products.

Our group employs ecological concepts, genetics, genomics, microbiology, bioinformatics, GIS and remote sensing, computer programming, and statistical and computational approaches. We welcome motivated students from diverse backgrounds interested in these research areas.

Education

• BEd. in Biology (Major) and Chemistry (Minor), Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia
• MSc. in Biological Sciences (Botanical Sciences), Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia
• MSc. in Mediterranean Forestry and Natural Resources Management, University of Lleida, Spain
• MSc. in Forest and Environmental Sciences, University of Tuscia, Italy
• PhD in Plant Science, University of Saskatchewan, Canada
• Post Doctoral Fellow, University of Saskatchewan, Canada
• PRP Research Scientist, Agriculture and Agri Food Canada

Awards & Honors

• 2020 University of Saskatchewan Doctoral Dissertation Award Nominee
• 2019/2020 University of Saskatchewan Plant Science Outstanding PhD Student
• 2020 Teacher-Scholar Doctoral Fellow, University of Saskatchewan
• 2016-2020 Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commission Graduate Scholarship
• 2016 Singapore International Graduate Award (SINGA)
• 2012-2014 Erasmus Mundus European Master’s Scholarship