Welcome to the MBL Ecosystems Center
'The footprint of Alaskan tundra fires'Scientists at the Arctic Long-Term Ecological Research project, which is based at the Ecosystems Center, are studying the increase in wildfires on the Arctic tundra. A recent paper by Adrian Rocha, Ed Rastetter, Gus Shaver and others reports that recently the size and frequency of wildfires in Alaska’s arctic north has increased dramatically because of changes in climate and dryness of the tundra. When a wildfire occurs, there are both positive and negative effects on future climates. One effect is that the soil gets darker, which leads to warming, more decomposition of organic carbon, and release of CO2; yet it also leads to growth of more plants that will take up CO2 and preserve the carbon in plant parts for many years. Another effect is that the tundra is shaded by the increased leaves and plant litter, which leads to cooling, but a counteracting warming of the soil in winter caused by an increase in snow thickness trapped by more shrubs. There is also an increase in the depth of thaw each summer that leads to increased erosion and breakdown of soil organic matter. Our current research in arctic Alaska investigates the balance of these and other processes that will change the effect of the tundra on the climate. Rocha, AV; Loranty, MM; Higuera, PE; Mack, MC; Hu, FS: Jones, BM; Breen, AL; Rastetter, EB; Goetz, SJ; Shaver, GR. 2012. The footprint of Alaskan tundra fires during the past half-century: Implications for surface properties and radiative forcing. Environmental Research Letters. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/7/4/044039
Recent PublicationsTomasky-Holmes, G., I. Valiela, and M. A. Charette. 2013. Determination of water mass ages using radium isotopes as tracers: Implications for phytoplankton dynamics in estuaries. Marine Chemistry. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marchem.2013.02.002. Riskin, S.H., S, Porder, M. E. Schipanski, E. M. Bennett, and C, Neill. 2013. Regional Differences in Phosphorus Budgets in Intensive Soybean Agriculture. BioScience 63: 49–54. Peng, X., E. Yando, E. Hildebrand, C. Dwyer, A. Kearney, A. Waciega, I. Valiela and A. E. Bernhard. 2012. Differential responses of ammonia-oxidizing archaea and bacteria to long-term fertilization in a New England salt marsh. Front. Microbio. 3:445. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2012.00445 Deegan, L.A., D.S. Johnson, R.S. Warren, J. Fleeger, S. Fagherazzi, and W. Wollheim. 2012. Coastal eutrophication as a driver of salt marsh loss. Nature 490:388-392. Shatova, O., D. Koweek, M.H. Conte and J.C. Weber. 2012. Contribution of zooplankton fecal pellets to deep ocean particle flux in the Sargasso Sea assessed using quantitative image analysis. Journal of Plankton Research 34 (10):905-921 Yang, X., J. F. Mustard, J. Tang, and H. Xu. 2012. Regional-scale phenology modeling based on meteorological records and remote sensing observations. J. Geophys. Res., 117, G03029, doi:10.1029/2012JG001977. Ducklow, H., A. Orsi, and J. S. Wellner. 2012. Introduction to the special issue on Antarctic oceanography in a changing world. Oceanography 25(3):14-17. Valiela, I., L. Camilli, T. Stone, A. Giblin, J. Crusius, S. Fox, C. Barth-Jensen, R. Oliveira Monteiro, J. Tucker, P. Martinetto, and C. Harris. 2012. Increased rainfall remarkably freshens estuarine and coastal waters on the Pacific coast of Panama: Magnitude and likely effects on upwelling and nutrient supply. Global and Planetary Change 92-93: 130–137.
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SeminarsApril 16: April 23: April 30: ResearchThe Ecosystems Center conducts research in Arctic Alaska, Sweden and Russia, the Antarctic, the streams and pastures of Brazil, and the estuaries of New England. More>>> EducationThe Ecosystems Center is actively involved in education. In addition to teaching in the Semester in Environmental Science, center scientists serve as adjunct professors and advisors in the Brown-MBL Graduate Program. More>>> Give to the Ecosystems CenterMake a secure online donation today! |
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