Research interests:

I am interested in global change impacts on the forest carbon cycle. My current research is focused on tropical forests, but I am equally interested in boreal and temperate ecosystems. Recent evidence from free air CO2 enrichment (FACE) experiments suggests, that growth responses of temperate trees to CO2 might be limited by nutrient availability. In contrast, tropical forests are currently gaining carbon, which possibly indicates a strong response to rising CO2. Is the recent observed growth enhancement in the tropics a consequence of a combination of nutrient abundance and CO2 fertilization? If so, will nutrient limitation at some point dampen the growth enhancements? Could the current growth be further stimulated by nutrient additions?

To address these questions, which have implications for the global carbon cycle, we will combine empirical and theoretical approaches. We are collaborating with researchers from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama where a large-scale fertilization experiment has been carried out. Furthermore we will make use of the Princeton-GFDL LM3V land model, which features a new N cycle that was developed by members of our lab (Stefan Gerber) together with researchers from Steve Pacala’s group and the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL).

LINKS:

PUBLICATIONS AND SHORT CV

SMITHSONIAN TROPICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE

GEOPHYSICAL FLUID DYNAMICS LABORATORY