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
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...
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. 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. Understanding how microbiomes influence the systems they inhabit
Translating the ever-increasing wealth of information on microbiomes (environment, host, or built environment) to advance the understanding of system-level processes is proving to be an exceptional research challenge. One reason for this challenge is that relationships between characteristics of microbiomes and the system-level processes they...
Hall, E.K.; Bernhardt, E.S.; Bier, R.L.; Bradford, M.A.; Boot, C.M.; Cotner, J.B.; del Giorgio, P.A.; Evans, S.E.; Graham, E.B.;; Jones, S.E.; Lennon, J.T.; Locey, Kenneth J.; Nemergut, D.; Osborne, B.; Rocca, J.D.; Schimel, J.S.; Waldrop, Mark; Wallenstein, M.W. Dissolved organic carbon and nitrogen release from boreal Holocene permafrost and seasonally frozen soils of Alaska
Permafrost (perennially frozen) soils store vast amounts of organic carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) that are vulnerable to mobilization as dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and dissolved organic and inorganic nitrogen (DON, DIN) upon thaw. Such releases will affect the biogeochemistry of permafrost regions, yet little is known about the chemical...
Wickland, Kimberly P.; Waldrop, Mark P.; Aiken, George R.; Koch, Joshua C.; Jorgenson, M. Torre; Striegl, Robert G. Soil microbial community composition is correlated to soil carbon processing along a boreal wetland formation gradient
Climate change is modifying global biogeochemical cycles. Microbial communities play an integral role in soil biogeochemical cycles; knowledge about microbial composition helps provide a mechanistic understanding of these ecosystem-level phenomena. Next generation sequencing approaches were used to investigate changes in microbial functional...
Chapman, Eric; Cadillo-Quiroz, Hinsby; Childers, Daniel L.; Turetsky, Merritt R.; Waldrop, Mark P. Microbial survival strategies in ancient permafrost: insights from metagenomics
In permafrost (perennially frozen ground) microbes survive oligotrophic conditions, sub-zero temperatures, low water availability and high salinity over millennia. Viable life exists in permafrost tens of thousands of years old but we know little about the metabolic and physiological adaptations to the challenges presented by life in frozen ground...
Mackelprang, Rachel; Burkert, Alexander; Haw, Monica; Mahendrarajah, Tara; Conaway, Christopher H.; Douglas, Thomas A.; Waldrop, Mark P. The interacting roles of climate, soils, and plant production on soil microbial communities at a continental scale
Soil microbial communities control critical ecosystem processes such as decomposition, nutrient cycling, and soil organic matter formation. Continental scale patterns in the composition and functioning of microbial communities are related to climatic, biotic, and edaphic factors such as temperature and precipitation, plant community composition,...
Waldrop, Mark P.; Holloway, JoAnn M.; Smith, David B.; Goldhaber, Martin B.; Drenovsky, R.E.; Scow, K.M.; Dick, R.; Howard, Daniel M.; Wylie, Bruce K.; Grace, James B.
Grand challenges for integrated USGS science—A workshop report
Executive SummaryThe U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has a long history of advancing the traditional Earth science disciplines and identifying opportunities to integrate USGS science across disciplines to address complex societal problems. The USGS science strategy for 2007–2017 laid out key challenges in disciplinary and interdisciplinary arenas,...
Jenni, Karen E.; Goldhaber, Martin B.; Betancourt, Julio L.; Baron, Jill S.; Bristol, Sky; Cantrill, Mary; Exter, Paul E.; Focazio, Michael J.; Haines, John W.; Hay, Lauren E.; Hsu, Leslie; Labson, Victor F.; Lafferty, Kevin D.; Ludwig, K.A.; Milly, Paul C. D.; Morelli, Toni L.; Morman, Suzette A.; Nassar, Nedal T.; Newman, Timothy R.; Ostroff, Andrea C. ; Read, Jordan S.; Reed, Sasha C.; Shapiro, Carl D.; Smith, Richard A.; Sanford, Ward E.; Sohl, Terry L.; Stets, Edward G.; Terando, Adam J.; Tillitt, Donald E.; Tischler, Michael A.; Toccalino, Patricia L.; Wald, David J.; Waldrop, Mark P.; Wein, Anne; Weltzin, Jake F.; Zimmerman, Christian E.