USGS researchers Jack McFarland and Kristen Manies taking permafrost cores to study the carbon cycle in Interior Alaska.
Mark P Waldrop, Ph.D.
Mark's research expertise is in soil microbial ecology and biogeochemistry in response to global change phenomenon. He leads a team focused on studies of microbial, chemical, and biophysical controls on carbon cycling in permafrost, boreal, and wetland ecosystems of Alaska as well as forest and grassland ecosystems of the Western U.S.
Synergistic Activities
USGS Menlo Park Science Advisory Council Member
US Permafrost Association President
Affiliate/Graduate Faculty, University of Alaska Fairbanks & University of Guelph
Bonanza Creek LTER and Alaska Peatland Experiment (APEX), Principal Investigator
International Soil Carbon Network (NSCN) member
Integrated Ecosystem Model data contributor, AK Climate Science Center
Permafrost Research Coordination Network contributor
Environmental Microbiome Project (EMP) member
North American Carbon Program (NACP), affiliated project lead
Professional Experience
2013- current Project Chief, Mechanisms of Soil Carbon Sequestration
2007- current Research Soil Scientist, USGS, Menlo Park, CA.
2005-2007 Mendenhall Research Fellow, USGS, Menlo Park, CA.
2002-2004 Postdoctoral Fellow, The University of Michigan
Education and Certifications
2002-University of California at Berkeley, Ph.D., Soil Science
1997-University of California at Berkeley, M.S., Soil Science
1995-New Mexico State Univ, B.S. Biology/Ecology, and B.S. Soil Science
Science and Products
Below are Mark's related science projects
Increasing Giant Sequoia Reforestation Success after Catastrophic Wildfire Using Soil and Microbial Indicators
Response of plant, microbial, and soil functions to drought and fire in California
Understanding Impacts of Sea-Level Rise and Land Management on Critical Coastal Marsh Habitat
Arctic Biogeochemical Response to Permafrost Thaw (ABRUPT)
Understanding Impacts of Sea-Level Rise and Land Management on Critical Coastal Marsh Habitat
Next Generation of Ecological Indicators: Defining Which Microbial Properties Matter Most to Ecosystem Function and How to Measure Them
Understanding the Impacts of Permafrost Change: Providing Input into the Alaska Integrated Ecosystem Model
Plant, soil, and microbial characteristics of marsh collapse in Mississippi River Deltaic wetlands
Depth to frozen soil measurements at APEX, 2008-2023
Depth to frozen soil measurements taken by a variety of collaborators at the Alaskan Peatland EXeriment (APEX) bog/permafrost plateau site. Data is from 2018 - 2023.
Panarctic permafrost microbial community and edaphic data collected from 2010-2020
Soil and Vegetation Data from Lake-Margin Wetlands in the Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge
Spatiotemporal dynamics of soil carbon following coastal wetland loss at a Louisiana coastal salt marsh in the Mississippi River Deltaic Plain in 2019
Permafrost greenhouse gas and microbial data from the Alaska Peatland Experiment (APEX) 2017 to 2019
Permafrost characterization at the Alaska Peatland Experiment (APEX) site: Geophysical and related field data collected from 2018-2020
Flux and Soil Data from the Alaska Peatland Experiment 2014 to 2016
Microbial Carbon and Nitrogen Metabolism Across a Late Pleistocene Permafrost Chronosequence
Permafrost Mapping in Two Wetland Systems North of the Tanana River in Interior Alaska 2014
Batch sorption data, respired CO2, extractable DOC, and Raman spectra collected from an incubation with microbial necromass on feldspar or amorphous aluminum hydroxide
Dissolved organic carbon and nitrogen release from boreal Holocene permafrost and seasonally frozen soils of Alaska
USGS researchers Jack McFarland and Kristen Manies taking permafrost cores to study the carbon cycle in Interior Alaska.
Below are Mark's related publication
U.S. Geological Survey climate science plan—Future research directions
The effect of drying boreal lakes on plants, soils, and microbial communities in lake margin habitats
Vegetation loss following vertical drowning of Mississippi River deltaic wetlands leads to faster microbial decomposition and decreases in soil carbon
Practical guide to measuring wetland carbon pools and fluxes
Wetlands cover a small portion of the world, but have disproportionate influence on global carbon (C) sequestration, carbon dioxide and methane emissions, and aquatic C fluxes. However, the underlying biogeochemical processes that affect wetland C pools and fluxes are complex and dynamic, making measurements of wetland C challenging. Over decades of research, many observational, experimental, and
Permafrost microbial communities and functional genes are structured by latitudinal and soil geochemical gradients
The biogeography of relative abundance of soil fungi versus bacteria in surface topsoil
Microbiome assembly in thawing permafrost and its feedbacks to climate
A model of the spatiotemporal dynamics of soil carbon following coastal wetland loss applied to a Louisiana salt marsh in the Mississippi River Deltaic Plain
Mechanisms for retention of low molecular weight organic carbon varies with soil depth at a coastal prairie ecosystem
Active virus-host interactions at sub-freezing temperatures in Arctic peat soil
Influence of permafrost type and site history on losses of permafrost carbon after thaw
Emergent biogeochemical risks from Arctic permafrost degradation
Science and Products
Below are Mark's related science projects
Increasing Giant Sequoia Reforestation Success after Catastrophic Wildfire Using Soil and Microbial Indicators
Response of plant, microbial, and soil functions to drought and fire in California
Understanding Impacts of Sea-Level Rise and Land Management on Critical Coastal Marsh Habitat
Arctic Biogeochemical Response to Permafrost Thaw (ABRUPT)
Understanding Impacts of Sea-Level Rise and Land Management on Critical Coastal Marsh Habitat
Next Generation of Ecological Indicators: Defining Which Microbial Properties Matter Most to Ecosystem Function and How to Measure Them
Understanding the Impacts of Permafrost Change: Providing Input into the Alaska Integrated Ecosystem Model
Plant, soil, and microbial characteristics of marsh collapse in Mississippi River Deltaic wetlands
Depth to frozen soil measurements at APEX, 2008-2023
Depth to frozen soil measurements taken by a variety of collaborators at the Alaskan Peatland EXeriment (APEX) bog/permafrost plateau site. Data is from 2018 - 2023.
Panarctic permafrost microbial community and edaphic data collected from 2010-2020
Soil and Vegetation Data from Lake-Margin Wetlands in the Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge
Spatiotemporal dynamics of soil carbon following coastal wetland loss at a Louisiana coastal salt marsh in the Mississippi River Deltaic Plain in 2019
Permafrost greenhouse gas and microbial data from the Alaska Peatland Experiment (APEX) 2017 to 2019
Permafrost characterization at the Alaska Peatland Experiment (APEX) site: Geophysical and related field data collected from 2018-2020
Flux and Soil Data from the Alaska Peatland Experiment 2014 to 2016
Microbial Carbon and Nitrogen Metabolism Across a Late Pleistocene Permafrost Chronosequence
Permafrost Mapping in Two Wetland Systems North of the Tanana River in Interior Alaska 2014
Batch sorption data, respired CO2, extractable DOC, and Raman spectra collected from an incubation with microbial necromass on feldspar or amorphous aluminum hydroxide
Dissolved organic carbon and nitrogen release from boreal Holocene permafrost and seasonally frozen soils of Alaska
USGS researchers Jack McFarland and Kristen Manies taking permafrost cores to study the carbon cycle in Interior Alaska.
USGS researchers Jack McFarland and Kristen Manies taking permafrost cores to study the carbon cycle in Interior Alaska.
Below are Mark's related publication
U.S. Geological Survey climate science plan—Future research directions
The effect of drying boreal lakes on plants, soils, and microbial communities in lake margin habitats
Vegetation loss following vertical drowning of Mississippi River deltaic wetlands leads to faster microbial decomposition and decreases in soil carbon
Practical guide to measuring wetland carbon pools and fluxes
Wetlands cover a small portion of the world, but have disproportionate influence on global carbon (C) sequestration, carbon dioxide and methane emissions, and aquatic C fluxes. However, the underlying biogeochemical processes that affect wetland C pools and fluxes are complex and dynamic, making measurements of wetland C challenging. Over decades of research, many observational, experimental, and