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Eric J Ward, Ph.D.

Eric Ward is a Research Ecologist at WARC in Lafayette, LA.

Eric J. Ward’s research focuses on the links between empirical studies and modeling in physiological and ecosystem ecology.  The interpretation of field research and its efficient incorporation into projections of carbon and water cycling in managed and unmanaged ecosystems are critical to understanding ecosystem functions and services in a changing world.   Dr. Ward’s current program addresses the effects of management and global change factors on carbon cycling in wetland ecosystems, with a focus on coastal wetlands of the SE United States.  He works at a variety of field sites, ranging from freshwater floatant marsh to mangrove forests.  He has contributed expertise in model-data synthesis to many collaborative efforts addressing ecosystem function in a changing world, such as his current efforts in the USGS LandCarbon National Assessment and the Powell Center Wetland FLUXNET Synthesis for Methane.

Background

Dr. Ward has been a collaborator in multiple large-scale ecosystem studies and experiments.  Before USGS, he worked for Oak Ridge National Laboratory as part of the SPRUCE (Spruce and Peatland Responses Under Changing Environments) experiment, which examined the effects of elevated carbon dioxide levels and whole ecosystem warming on a peatland forest in northern Minnesota.  While a post-doctoral fellow at North Carolina State University, he worked on PINEMAP (Pine Integrated Network: Education, Mitigation, and Adaptation Project), a USDA Coordinated Agricultural Project that integrated research, extension, and education to adapt forest management approaches aimed at increasing forest resilience, sustainability and carbon sequestration over the coming decades.  During his graduate studies at Duke University, Dr. Ward was part of the Duke FACE (Free Air Carbon Dioxide Enrichment) study, which focused on the effects of rising carbon dioxide levels on forests.

Education

PhD, Duke University, Ecology, 2012

BA, Kenyon College, Biology, 2003