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| Name: Dr. Stephen Hart |
Research Interests: Ecosystem Ecology, Forest
Soils, Global Climatic Change, Microbial Ecology, Restoration Ecology,
Riparian Ecology |
Research Description:
Ecosystem Ecology is a sub-discipline of ecology that uses ecosystems as the observational unit, and attempts to understand the biotic and abiotic factors that regulate ecosystem structure and function. Our laboratory group focuses on both basic and applied ecosystem research primarily in forests of the western U.S. Current projects include assessing: the influence of the genetics of a dominant plant on ecosystem processes; the efficacy of using the natural abundance of 15N in the microbial biomass as an integrator of N cycling processes; the role of nitrate in the internal nitrogen cycle of forests; the effects of forest restoration treatments (e.g., thinning or prescribed fire) and wildfire on soil microbial communities, belowground processes, and ecosystem carbon pools; the impact of climatic change on soil-plant-atmosphere interactions; the biotic and geochemical controls on ecosystem development along a three million year soil chronosequence; how insect herbivory alters ecosystem processes; the utility of insect communities as indicators of forest ecosystem health.
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Facilities:
We use a variety of tools in these studies ranging from ecological genetics to isotopic analyses, to computer simulation modeling. We have state-of-the-art laboratory facilities available for conducting this research. These include: instruments to determine ash free oven dry mass of any sample, chloroform fumigation to measure microbial biomass Nitrogen, Lachat automated ion analyzer to determine total Kjeldahl Nitrogen, a CID CI-600 Root Observation System and all of the lab equipment required to measure soil moisture and texture. |
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| Name: Dr. Diana Elder Anderson |
Research Interests: Arid Land Geomorphology,
Meteorology, Paleoclimatology, Desertification, Watershed Restoration |
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Facilities:
The Soil, Sediment, and Landform Lab is designed to address both field and lab-based paleoenvironmental and paleolandscape studies. It houses a state-of-the-art particle-size analyzer, and has the equipment necessary for pretreatment, magnetic susceptibility studies, and field mapping and survey. The lab can also determine basic soil chemical properties, and is used for a number of research projects, investigation of climate change as revealed in lake cores, soil chronosequence studies, alluvial processes and stream restoration, and archaeological studies such as prehistoric soil conditions and ancient canal systems. |
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| Name: Dr. Nancy Johnson |
Research Interests: Mycorrhizal and soil ecology. |
Research Description:
Dr. Johnson is fascinated by mycorrhizal symbioses. She and her students study the relationship between the structure and functioning of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in ecosystems. They are also working to develop techniques to identify and quantify mycorrhizal fungi in plant roots and in soil. Future research goals include is studying the global biogeography of Glomalean fungi. |
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| Name: Dr. Catherine (Kitty) Gehring |
Research Interests: Plant and fungal ecology |
Research Description:
The goal of Dr. Gehring'sresearch program is to better understand the functioning of mycorrhizal fungi in natural systems. One way that members of her lab group work towards this goal is to examine how abiotic and biotic factors interact to affect the abundance and community composition of mycorrhizal fungi and how changes in these parameters then feedback to affect the performance of host plants. We combine field and laboratory experiments with microscopic and molecular analysis of ectomycorrhizal and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities.
Current research topics include: drought and pinyon ectomycorrhizas, host plant genetics and mycorrhizal fungal diversity, and vertebrates/mycorrhizal fungi in tropical and temperate zones. This faculty member is also a mentor in the NSF IGERT graduate training program: NAU's IGERT PhD program seeks to identify key links between genes and the environment and is designed to train exceptional graduate students in molecular genetics, environmental sciences, and spatio-temporal modeling.
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