Specifics: Research focus on interactions between the biosphere and the cycling of water, energy, and biogeochemicals, primarily carbon and nutrients. Our approach is guided by first principles, but often focused on identifying the non-linearities (e.g. resilience, resistance, and assembly) and thresholds (e.g. physical, phenological, successional) that characterize biophysical systems. This work is inherently interdisciplinary requiring skills, expertise, and methods from both physical and biological sciences. Research not restricted to a particular environment or ecosystem, and has ranged from work in arctic and alpine tundra, forested montane catchments, semi-arid catchments, river-, stream-, lake- and wetland-ecosystems, and urban environments. Individual projects may seek to identify new process knowledge linking physical and biological processes, develop rules for scaling point-scale processes to catchments or landscapes, or, typically in concert with colleagues, incorporate this knowledge into predictive modeling frameworks. All of our work has a strong basic science component, addressing knowledge gaps in understanding ecosystem structure and function and as an applied component addressing stakeholder and societal needs.
GC 572 Global Biogeochemical Cycles (Fall, Co-Instructor with Leavitt) HWRS 696G Advanced Topics in Hydrology-Biogeochemistry Interactions (Spring, Alternating Instructor with McIntosh and Meixner)
Professor, HWR; Director, NSF Center SAHRA
Ph.D. Biogeochemistry 1995, The University of Colorado