Mark P Waldrop, Ph.D.
My research expertise is in soil microbial ecology and biogeochemistry in response to global change phenomenon. I lead 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.
Biography
Professional Preparation
University of California at Berkeley, Ph.D., Soil Science, 2002
University of California at Berkeley, M.S., Soil Science, 1997
New Mexico State University, B.S. Biology/Ecology, and B.S. Soil Science, 1995
Professional Appointments
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
Personal links:
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
Science and Products
Understanding Impacts of Sea-Level Rise and Land Management on Critical Coastal Marsh Habitat
To ensure successful restoration of coastal wetlands, WARC researchers will measure carbon cycling processes that indicate ecosystem health and sustainability.
Arctic Biogeochemical Response to Permafrost Thaw (ABRUPT)
Warming and thawing of permafrost soils in the Arctic is expected to become widespread over the coming decades. Permafrost thaw changes ecosystem structure and function, affects resource availability for wildlife and society, and decreases ground stability which affects human infrastructure. Since permafrost soils contain about half of the global soil carbon (C) pool, the magnitude of C...
Understanding Impacts of Sea-Level Rise and Land Management on Critical Coastal Marsh Habitat
Coastal wetlands are some of the most productive and valuable habitats in the world. Louisiana contains 40% of the coastal wetlands in the United States, which provide critical habitat for waterfowl and fisheries, as well as many other benefits, such as storm surge protection for coastal communities. In terms of ecosystem services, biological resource production, and infrastructure investments...
Next Generation of Ecological Indicators: Defining Which Microbial Properties Matter Most to Ecosystem Function and How to Measure Them
While it is widely recognized that microorganisms are intimately linked with every biogeochemical cycle in all ecosystems, it is not clear how and when microbial dynamics constrain ecosystem processes. As a result, it is know clear how to apply the value of increasingly detailed characterization of microbial properties to our understanding of ecosystem ecology. Several recent papers have...
Understanding the Impacts of Permafrost Change: Providing Input into the Alaska Integrated Ecosystem Model
Ongoing climate change has the potential to negatively impact Alaska’s ecosystems and the critical services that they provide. These ecosystem services include supplying food and fiber for Alaskan communities, offering opportunities for recreational, cultural, and spiritual activities, and regulating temperature and water flow (runoff, flooding, etc.). Scientists build models to better...
Influence of permafrost type and site history on losses of permafrost carbon after thaw
We quantified permafrost peat plateau and post-thaw carbon (C) stocks across a chronosequence in Interior Alaska to evaluate the amount of C lost with thaw. Macrofossil reconstructions revealed three stratigraphic layers of peat: (1) a base layer of fen/marsh peat, (2) peat from a forested peat plateau (with permafrost) and, (3) collapse-scar bog...
Manies, Kristen L.; Jones, Miriam C.; Waldrop, Mark; Leewis, Mary-Catherine; Fuller, Christopher C.; Cornman, Robert S.; Hoefke, Kristen The biophysical role of water and ice within permafrost nearing collapse: Insights from novel geophysical observations
The impact of permafrost thaw on hydrologic, thermal, and biotic processes remains uncertain, in part due to limitations in subsurface measurement capabilities. To better understand subsurface processes in thermokarst environments, we collocated geophysical and biogeochemical instruments along a thaw gradient between forested permafrost and...
James, Stephanie R.; Minsley, Burke J; McFarland, Jack; Euskirchen, Eugenie S.; Edgar, Colin W.; Waldrop, Mark
USGS permafrost research determines the risks of permafrost thaw to biologic and hydrologic resources
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in collaboration with university, Federal, Tribal, and independent partners, conducts fundamental research on the distribution, vulnerability, and importance of permafrost in arctic and boreal ecosystems. Scientists, land managers, and policy makers use USGS data to help make decisions for development, wildlife...
Waldrop, Mark P.; Anderson, Lesleigh; Dornblaser, Mark; Erikson, Li H.; Gibbs, Ann E.; Herman-Mercer, Nicole M.; James, Stephanie R.; Jones, Miriam C.; Koch, Joshua C.; Leewis, Mary-Cathrine; Manies, Kristen L.; Minsley, Burke J.; Pastick, Neal J.; Patil, Vijay; Urban, Frank; Walvoord, Michelle A.; Wickland, Kimberly P.; Zimmerman, Christian Permafrost mapping with electrical resistivity tomography in two wetland systems north of the Tanana River, Interior Alaska
Surface-based 2D electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) surveys were used to characterize permafrost distribution at wetland sites on the alluvial plain north of the Tanana River, 20 km southwest of Fairbanks, Alaska, in June and September 2014. The sites were part of an ecologically-sensitive research area characterizing biogeochemical response...
Conaway, Christopher H.; Johnson, Cordell; Lorenson, Thomas; Turetsky, Merritt R.; Euskirchen, Eugénie S.; Waldrop, Mark; Swarzenski, Peter W. Getting to the root of plant‐mediated methane emissions and oxidation in a thermokarst bog
Vascular plants are important in the wetland methane cycle, but their effect on production, oxidation, and transport has high uncertainty, limiting our ability to predict emissions. In a permafrost‐thaw bog in Interior Alaska, we used plant manipulation treatments, field‐deployed planar optical oxygen sensors, direct measurements of methane...
Turner, Jesse C; Moorberg, Colby J; Wong, Andrea; Shea, Kathleen; Waldrop, Mark; Turetsky, Merritt R.; Neumann, Rebecca B. Generalized models to estimate carbon and nitrogen stocks of organic soil horizons in Interior Alaska
Boreal ecosystems comprise one tenth of the world’s land surface and contain over 20 % of the global soil carbon (C) stocks. Boreal soils are unique in that its mineral soil is covered by what can be quite thick layers of organic soil. These organic soil layers, or horizons, can differ in their state of decomposition, source vegetation, and...
Manies, Kristen L.; Waldrop, Mark; Harden, Jennifer W. Life at the frozen limit: Microbial carbon metabolism across a Late Pleistocene permafrost chronosequence
Permafrost is an extreme habitat yet it hosts microbial populations that remain active over millennia. Using permafrost collected from a Pleistocene chronosequence (19 to 33 ka), we hypothesized that the functional genetic potential of microbial communities in permafrost would reflect microbial strategies to metabolize permafrost soluble organic...
Leewis, Mary-Cathrine; Berlemont, Renaud; Podgorski, David C.; Srinivas, Archana; Zito, Phoebe; Spencer, Robert G. M.; McFarland, Jack; Douglas, Thomas A.; Conaway, Christopher H.; Waldrop, Mark; Mackelprang, Rachel Towards determining spatial methane distribution on Arctic permafrost bluffs with an unmanned aerial system
Arctic permafrost stores vast amounts of methane (CH4) in subsurface reservoirs. Thawing permafrost creates areas for this potent greenhouse gas to be released to the atmosphere. Identifying ‘hot spots’ of methane flux on a local scale has been limited by the spatial scales of traditional ground-based or satellite-based methane-sampling methods....
Oberle, Ferdinand K. J.; Gibbs, Ann E.; Richmond, Bruce M.; Erikson, Li H.; Waldrop, Mark P.; Swarzenski, Peter W. Changes in the active, dead, and dormant microbial community structure across a Pleistocene permafrost chronosequence
Permafrost hosts a community of microorganisms that survive and reproduce for millennia despite extreme environmental conditions such as water stress, subzero temperatures, high salinity, and low nutrient availability. Many studies focused on permafrost microbial community composition use DNA-based methods such as metagenomic and 16S rRNA gene...
Burkert, Alexander; Douglas, Thomas A.; Waldrop, Mark; Mackelprang, Rachel Effect of permafrost thaw on plant and soil fungal community in the boreal forest: Does fungal community change mediate plant productivity response?
Permafrost thaw is leading to rapid shifts in boreal ecosystem function. Permafrost thaw affects soil carbon turnover through changes in soil hydrology, however, the biotic mechanisms regulating plant community response remain elusive. Here, we measured the response of fungal community composition and soil nutrient content in an intact permafrost...
Schütte, Ursel M.E; Henning, Jeremiah A.; Ye, Yuzhen; Bowling, A.; Ford, James D.; Genet, Helene; Waldrop, Mark; Turetsky, Merritt R.; White, Jeffrey R.; Bever, James D Biological and mineralogical controls over cycling of low molecular weight organic compounds along a soil chronosequence
Low molecular weight organic compounds (LMWOC) represent a small but critical component of soil organic matter (SOM) for microbial growth and metabolism. The fate of these compounds is largely under microbial control, yet outside the cell, intrinsic soil properties can also significantly influence their turnover and retention. Using a...
McFarland, Jack; Waldrop, Mark P.; Strawn, Daniel; Creamer, Courtney; Lawrence, Corey R.; Haw, Monica Warming effects of spring rainfall increase methane emissions from thawing permafrost
Methane emissions regulate the near‐term global warming potential of permafrost thaw, particularly where loss of ice‐rich permafrost converts forest and tundra into wetlands. Northern latitudes are expected to get warmer and wetter, and while there is consensus that warming will increase thaw and methane emissions, effects of increased...
Neumann, Rebecca B.; Moorberg, C.J.; Lundquist, J.D.; Turner, J.C.; Waldrop, Mark P.; McFarland, Jack W.; Euskirchen, E.S.; Edgar, C.W.; Turetsky, M.R.