Sullivan, B.W., Alvarez-Clare, S., Castle, S.C., Porder, S., Reed, S.C., Schreeg, L., Townsend, A.R. and Cleveland, C.C., 2014. Assessing nutrient limitation in complex forested ecosystems: alternatives to large‐scale fertilization experiments. Ecology, 95(3), pp.668-681.
Sasha C Reed, Ph.D.
Dr. Sasha Reed is an ecologist focused on understanding how our planet's ecosystems work and what factors determine the services they provide. The study sites and methods Sasha uses are diverse, and with each of her projects she strives to provide scientific information that helps our nation address challenges, solve problems, and maximize opportunities.
Biography
Sasha seeks to provide useful information for land managers, policy-makers, and the general public. Sasha uses both basic and applied scientific approaches to improve our understanding of the fundamental controls over ecosystems, to determine how these systems respond to change, and to explore solutions for addressing relevant problems. Sasha works closely with a range of collaborators - including federal agency partners (BLM, NPS, DOE, DoD, BIA, USFS, USFWS) - in designing research studies, conducting information and technology transfer, and performing outreach activities. Some of her primary research interests include understanding how drought and increasing temperatures affect ecosystems, exploring a diversity of energy options for meeting national demand, assessing the consequences of exotic plant invasion and ways to combat them, and establishing novel management options for increased effectiveness and efficiency in restoration and reclamation. Sasha attempts to conduct research that is innovative, collaborative, and useful.
Education
Ph.D. in Biogeochemistry, the University of Colorado at Boulder (August 2002-May 2008)
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and Institute of Arctic & Alpine Research (INSTAAR), Boulder, CO. Co-advised by Alan R. Townsend and Steve K. Schmidt.
B.A. in Organic Chemistry, Colgate University (August 1993-May 1997)
- Department of Chemistry, Hamilton, NY. Graduated magna cum laude. Advised by David A. Modarelli.
Professional Experience
- Research Ecologist, USGS, Moab, UT, May 2008-present.
- Research Ecologist, USGS-SCEP Program, Moab, UT, 2005-2007 summers only.
- Fellow, NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. Awarded April 2003; deferred until September 2005-May 2008.
- Fellow, NSF IGERT Fellowship, Carbon Climate and Society Initiative (CCSI). August 2003-August 2005.
Honors and Fellowships
- Elected Member-At-Large, Ecological Society of America (ESA). Elected by the members of the ESA to help lead the Society. August 2020-August 2022.
- Ecological Society of America (ESA) Early Career Fellow. ESA nominates and selects early career fellows for making and showing promise of continuing to make outstanding contributions to the ecological sciences. March 2016.
- Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). Highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on scientists and engineers in the early stages of their research careers. October 2011.
- Star Award, received for outstanding work with the Department of the Interior. October 2010, May 2000.
- Graduate Student Research and Creative Works Award, University of Colorado at Boulder. One of two of the University’s graduating Ph.D. students whose dissertation was selected by faculty members from all disciplines as representing outstanding research and creative work. May 2008.
- USGS Student Career Experience Program (SCEP) Fellowship. Supported in creating a research project to model how soil gas fluxes in dryland ecosystems will vary under altered climate regimes. June-August of 2006 & 2007.
- Student Policy Award, Ecological Society of America (ESA). Graduate student chosen and funded by ESA to meet with members of Congress regarding national scientific funding. September 2006.
- AAAS Program for Excellence in Science. Nominated by the University of Colorado Vice Chancellor of Research to participate in a program rewarding praiseworthy graduate students working in the life sciences. August 2006.
- Lawrence Award, awarded to one student annually for superior performance in organic chemistry. April 1996.
- Phi Ea Sigma University Honor Society Awarded Membership, chosen for academic excellence. April 1994-May 1997.
- Phi Eta Sigma Aid Committee Selected Board Member, elected for superior research to a board that selected student grant applications for funding. September 1995-May 1997.
- Barry Goldwater Award Nominee, nationally nominated by Colgate University for academic distinction. November 1994.
Science and Products
Date published: April 2, 2021
Status: Active Diverse data to improve Southwest fire forecasts: Joining novel remote sensing, post-fire dynamics, and intra-annual precipitation patterns
Fire has increased dramatically across the western U.S.and these increases are expected to continue. With this reality, it is critical that we improve our ability to forecast the timing, extent, and intensity of fire to provide resource managers and policy makers the information needed for effective decisions. For example, an advanced, spatially-explicit prediction of the upcoming fire season...
Contacts: Sasha C Reed, Ph.D.
Attribution: Community for Data Integration (CDI)
Date published: October 1, 2020
Status: Active Using a multi-scale approach to synthesize measurements and models of C4 photosynthesis
Plants convert carbon dioxide into sugars for food during photosynthesis, and this provides food for all animal life. However, photosynthesis is inhibited when a plant’s enzymes use oxygen instead of carbon dioxide. To avoid this use of oxygen, some plants developed a photosynthetic adaptation – called C4 photosynthesis – to concentrate carbon dioxide around the enzymes. While less than 5% of...
Contacts: Sasha C Reed, Ph.D.
Attribution: John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis
Date published: April 20, 2020
Status: Active GrassCast: A multi-agency tool using remote sensing, modeling, and on-the-ground science to forecast grassland productivity in the Southwest
Rangeland ecosystems are one of the largest single providers of agro-ecological services in the U.S. The plant growth of these rangelands helps determine the amount of forage available for our livestock and for wildlife, as well as information about fire likelihood and restoration opportunities. However, every spring, ranchers and other rangeland managers face the same difficult challenge —...
Contacts: Sasha C Reed, Ph.D.
Attribution: Community for Data Integration (CDI)
Date published: January 1, 2020
Status: Active Learning From the Past and Planning for the Future: Experience-Driven Insight Into Managing for Ecosystem Transformations Induced by Drought and Wildfire
Drought and wildfire pose enormous threats to the integrity of natural resources that land managers are charged with protecting. Recent observations and modeling forecasts indicate that these stressors will likely produce catastrophic ecosystem transformations, or abrupt changes in the condition of plants, wildlife, and their habitats, in regions across the country in coming decades. In...
Date published: May 8, 2019
Status: Active Implementing a Grassland Productivity Forecast Tool for the U.S. Southwest
Rangeland systems are some of our nation’s largest providers of agro-ecological services, sustaining plant productivity that is highly variable across seasons and years. Although the ability to predict the upcoming growing season’s rangeland productivity would have enormous economic and management value – such as for making decisions about cattle stocking rates, fire, restoration, and wildlife...
Contacts: Sasha C Reed, Ph.D.
Attribution: Community for Data Integration (CDI)
Date published: September 16, 2018
Status: Active Long-Term Vegetation Change on the Colorado Plateau
The Colorado Plateau, centered around the four corners area of the Southwest, and includes much of Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico, is a large and important component of U.S. drylands. This important home to mountains, desert basins, dramatic canyons, and arid woodlands and grasslands is also one of North America’s most rapidly warming hot spots, with rates of warming of up to 2-3° C...
Contacts: Jayne Belnap, Mike Duniway, Ph.D., Sasha C Reed, Ph.D., Erika Geiger, Ph.D., Edmund E Grote, Terry Fisk, Matt Van Scoyoc
Attribution: Ecosystems, Southwest Biological Science Center
Date published: June 5, 2018
Status: Active Novel multi‐scale synthesis of nitrogen fixation rates and drivers across the terrestrial biosphere
Biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) is a critical biogeochemical process that converts inert atmospheric N2 gas into biologically usable forms of the essential nutrient nitrogen. A variety of free-living and symbiotic organisms carry out BNF, and in most regions worldwide, BNF is the largest source of nitrogen that fuels terrestrial ecosystems. As a result, BNF has far reaching effects on...
Contacts: Steven S Perakis, Sasha C Reed, Ph.D.
Attribution: John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis
Date published: February 28, 2017
Status: Active Southwest Energy Development and Drought (SWEDD)
Deserts of the southwestern US are replete with oil and gas deposits as well as sites for solar, wind, and geothermal energy production. In the past, many of these resources have been too expensive to develop, but increased demand and new technologies have led to an increase in exploration and development. However, desert ecosystems generally have low resilience to disturbance. More frequent,...
Date published: December 30, 2016
Southwestern Riparian Zones, Tamarisk Plants, and the Tamarisk Beetle
Introductions of bio-control beetles (genus Diorhabda) are causing defoliation and dieback of exotic Tamarix spp. in riparian zones across the western U.S., yet the factors that determine the plant communities that follow Tamarix decline are poorly understood. In particular, Tamarix-dominated soils are often higher in nutrients, organic matter, and salts than nearby soils, and these soil...
Attribution: Southwest Biological Science Center
Date published: December 30, 2016
Status: Active Biofuels in the Southwest
Concerns about energy security and rising greenhouse gas emissions have stimulated an unprecedented increase in the push for alternative energy use, including the use of plant biomass as a source of renewable energy (bioenergy). However, meeting alternative energy goals, while also meeting food demands and mitigating potential detrimental effects of industrialized agriculture, has emerged as a...
Contacts: Sasha C Reed, Ph.D.
Attribution: Energy & Wildlife, Southwest Biological Science Center
Date published: December 9, 2016
How Increasing Temperatures Affect Tropical Forests
Tropical forests take in and store more carbon than any other biome in the world, but increasing temperatures may pose a threat to this invaluable service. This research aims to explore how temperature affects key tropical forest functions, such as plant photosynthesis and soil respiration. To do this, the Tropical Responses to Altered Climate Experiment (TRACE) project will use infrared...
Contacts: Sasha C Reed, Ph.D.
Attribution: Southwest Biological Science Center
Date published: June 29, 2016
Status: Active Completing the dryland puzzle: creating a predictive framework for biological soil crust function and response to climate change
Drylands are integral to the Earth system and the present and future of human society. Drylands encompass more than 40% of the terrestrial landmass and support 34% of the world’s human population. Biocrusts are the “living skin” of Earth’s drylands, sometimes dominating the ground cover and figuring prominently in ecosystem structure and function. Biocrusts are a biological aggregate of...
Contacts: Jayne Belnap, Sasha C Reed, Ph.D.
Attribution: John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis
Year Published: 2022
Vertical movement of soluble carbon and nutrients from biocrusts to subsurface mineral soils
Dryland ecosystems can be constrained by low soil fertility. Within drylands, the soil nutrient and organic carbon (C) cycling that does occur is often mediated by soil surface communities known as biological soil crusts (biocrusts), which cycle C and nutrients in the top ca. 0–2 cm of soil. However, the degree to which biocrusts are...
Young, Kristina E.; Ferrenberg, Scott; Reibold, Robin H.; Reed, Sasha; Swenson, Tami; Northen, Trent; Darrouzet-Nardi, AnthonyAttribution: Southwest Biological Science Center, Ecosystems
Year Published: 2021
Experimental warming and its legacy effects on root dynamics following two hurricane disturbances in a wet tropical forest
Tropical forests are expected to experience unprecedented warming and increases in hurricane disturbances in the coming decades; yet, our understanding of how these productive systems, especially their belowground component, will respond to the combined effects of varied environmental changes remains empirically limited. Here we evaluated the...
Yaffar, Daniela; Wood, Tana E.; Reed, Sasha; Branoff, Benjamin L.; Cavaleri, Molly A.; Norby, Richard J.Attribution: Southwest Biological Science Center, Ecosystems
Year Published: 2021
Response to “Connectivity and pore accessibility in models of soil carbon cycling”
Here we respond to Baveye and colleagues' recent critique of our PROMISE model, describing how this new framework significantly advances our understanding of soil spatial heterogeneity and its influence on organic matter transformations.
Waring, Bonnie G.; Sulman, Benjamin N.; Reed, Sasha; Smith, A. Peyton; Averill, Colin; Creamer, Courtney Ann; Cusack, Daniela F.; Hall, Steven J.; Jastrow, Julie D.; Jilling, Andrea; Kemner, Kenneth M.; Kleber, Markus; Liu, Xiao-Jun Allen; Pett-Ridge, Jennifer; Schulz, Marjorie S.
Year Published: 2021
Plant growth and biocrust-fire interactions across five North American deserts
Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) are communities predominately comprised of lichens, bryophytes, fungi, algae, and cyanobacteria that form at the soil surface in dryland ecosystems worldwide. Biocrusts can influence the vascular plant community by altering surface hydrology, nutrient cycling, and the availability of microsites suitable for...
McCann, Ellie; Reed, Sasha; Saud, Pradip; Reibold, Robin H.; Howell, Armin J.; Faist, Akasha M.Attribution: Southwest Biological Science Center, Ecosystems
Year Published: 2021
Responses of soil extracellular enzyme activities and bacterial community composition to seasonal stages of drought in a semiarid grassland
Extreme drought can strongly impact belowground communities and biogeochemical processes, including soil microbial community composition and extracellular enzyme activities (EEAs), which are considered key agents in ecosystem carbon (C) and nutrient cycling. However, our understanding of how seasonal timing of drought during the growing season...
Gao, Wenlan; Reed, Sasha; Munson, Seth M.; Rui, Yichao; Fan, Wenyuan; Zheng, Zhenzhen; Li, Linfeng; Che, Rongxiao; Xue, Kai; Du, Jianqing; Cui, Xiaoyong; Wang, Yanfen; Hao, Yanbin
Year Published: 2021
Experimental warming across a tropical forest canopy height gradient reveals minimal photosynthetic and respiratory acclimation
Tropical forest canopies cycle vast amounts of carbon, yet we still have a limited understanding of how these critical ecosystems will respond to climate warming. We implemented in situ leaf-level + 3°C experimental warming from the understory to the upper canopy of two Puerto Rican tropical tree species, Guarea guidonia and Ocotea...
Carter, Kelsey R.; Wood, Tana E.; Reed, Sasha; Butts, Kaylie M.; Cavaleri, Molly A.Attribution: Southwest Biological Science Center, Ecosystems
Year Published: 2021
Incorporating biogeochemistry into dryland restoration
Dryland degradation is a persistent and accelerating global problem. Although the mechanisms initiating and maintaining dryland degradation are largely understood, returning productivity and function through ecological restoration remains difficult. Water limitation commonly drives slow recovery rates within drylands; however, the altered...
Young, Kristina E.; Reed, Sasha; Ferrenberg, Scott; Faist, Akasha M.; Winkler, Daniel E.; Cort, Catherine E.; Darrouzet-Nardi, AnthonyAttribution: Southwest Biological Science Center, Ecosystems
Year Published: 2021
Resistance, resilience, and recovery of dryland soil bacterial communities across multiple disturbances
Dryland ecosystems are sensitive to perturbations and generally slow to recover post disturbance. The microorganisms residing in dryland soils are especially important as they contribute to soil structure and nutrient cycling. Disturbance can have particularly strong effects on dryland soil structure and function, yet the natural resistance and...
Steven, Blaire; Phillips, Michala Lee; Belnap, Jayne; Gallegos-Graves, La Verne; Kuske, Cheryl R.; Reed, Sasha
Year Published: 2021
Global resorption efficiencies of trace elements in leaves of terrestrial plants
Leaf nutrient resorption is a critical nutrient conservation strategy. Previous studies focus mainly on resorption patterns of macronutrients, but resorption patterns of trace elements remain poorly understood.A meta-analysis was conducted to explore the general patterns of the leaf resorption of eight trace elements [i.e. copper (Cu), molybdenum...
Chen, Hao; Reed, Sasha; Lü, Xiaotao; Xiao, Kongcao; Wang, Kelin; Li, DejunAttribution: Southwest Biological Science Center, Ecosystems
Year Published: 2021
Five decades of observed daily precipitation reveal longer and more variable drought events across much of the western United States
Multiple lines of evidence suggest climate change will result in increased precipitation variability and consequently more frequent extreme events. These hydroclimatic changes will likely have significant socioecological impacts, especially across water-limited regions. Here we present an analysis of daily meteorological observations from 1976 to...
Zhang, Fangyue; Biederman, Joel A. ; Dannenberg, Matthew P.; Yan, Dong; Reed, Sasha; Smith, William K.Attribution: Southwest Biological Science Center, Ecosystems
Year Published: 2021
Supporting the development and use of native plant materials for restoration on the Colorado Plateau (Fiscal Year 2020 Report)
A primary focus of the Colorado Plateau Native Plant Program (CPNPP) is to identify and develop appropriate native plant materials (NPMs) for current and future restoration projects. Multiple efforts have characterized the myriad challenges inherent in providing appropriate seed resources to enable effective, widespread restoration and have...
Massatti, Robert; Winkler, Daniel E.; Reed, Sasha; Duniway, Michael C.; Munson, Seth M.; Bradford, John
Year Published: 2021
A roadmap for sampling and scaling biological nitrogen fixation in terrestrial ecosystems
Accurately quantifying rates and patterns of biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) in terrestrial ecosystems is essential to characterize ecological and biogeochemical interactions, identify mechanistic controls, improve BNF representation in conceptual and numerical modelling, and forecast nitrogen limitation constraints on future carbon (C) cycling...
Soper, Fiona M.; Taylor, Benton; Winbourne, Joy; Wong, Michelle; Dynarski, Katherine A; Reis, Carla R. G.; Peoples, Mark; Cleveland, Cory; Reed, Sasha; Menge, Duncan; Perakis, StevenPre-USGS Publications
Cleveland, C.C., Houlton, B.Z., Smith, W.K., Marklein, A.R., Reed, S.C., Parton, W., Del Grosso, S.J. and Running, S.W., 2013. Patterns of new versus recycled primary production in the terrestrial biosphere. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(31), pp.12733-12737.
Reed, S.C., Cleveland, C.C. and Townsend, A.R., 2013. Relationships among phosphorus, molybdenum and free-living nitrogen fixation in tropical rain forests: results from observational and experimental analyses. Biogeochemistry, 114(1-3), pp.135-147.
Wickings, K., Grandy, A.S., Reed, S.C. and Cleveland, C.C., 2012. The origin of litter chemical complexity during decomposition. Ecology Letters, 15(10), pp.1180-1188.
Reed, S.C., 2008. Scaling from molecules to ecosystems: controls over free-living nitrogen fixation in terrestrial ecosystems. ProQuest.
Sattin, S.R., Cleveland, C.C., Hood, E., Reed, S.C., King, A.J., Schmidt, S.K., Robeson, M.S., Ascarrunz, N. and Nemergut, D.R., 2009. Functional shifts in unvegetated, perhumid, recently-deglaciated soils do not correlate with shifts in soil bacterial community composition. The Journal of Microbiology, 47(6), pp.673-681.
Costello, E.K., Halloy, S.R., Reed, S.C., Sowell, P. and Schmidt, S.K., 2009. Fumarole-supported islands of biodiversity within a hyperarid, high-elevation landscape on Socompa Volcano, Puna de Atacama, Andes. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 75(3), pp.735-747.
Freeman, K.R., Pescador, M.Y., Reed, S.C., Costello, E.K., Robeson, M.S. and Schmidt, S.K., 2009. Soil CO2 flux and photoautotrophic community composition in high‐elevation,‘barren’soil. Environmental Microbiology, 11(3), pp.674-686.
Schmidt, S.K., Reed, S.C., Nemergut, D.R., Grandy, A.S., Cleveland, C.C., Weintraub, M.N., Hill, A.W., Costello, E.K., Meyer, A.F., Neff, J.C. and Martin, A.M., 2008. The earliest stages of ecosystem succession in high-elevation (5000 metres above sea level), recently deglaciated soils. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 275(1653), pp.2793-2802.
Reed, S.C., Cleveland, C.C. and Townsend, A.R., 2008. Tree species control rates of free-living nitrogen fixation in a tropical rain forest. Ecology, 89(10), pp.2924-2934.
Reed, S.C., Cleveland, C.C. and Townsend, A.R., 2007. Controls over leaf litter and soil nitrogen fixation in two lowland tropical rain forests. Biotropica, 39(5), pp.585-592.
Schmidt, S.K., Costello, E.K., Nemergut, D.R., Cleveland, C.C., Reed, S.C., Weintraub, M.N., Meyer, A.F. and Martin, A.M., 2007. Biogeochemical consequences of rapid microbial turnover and seasonal succession in soil. Ecology, 88(6), pp.1379-1385.
Reed, S.C., Seastedt, T.R., Mann, C.M., Suding, K.N., Townsend, A.R. and Cherwin, K.L., 2007. Phosphorus fertilization stimulates nitrogen fixation and increases inorganic nitrogen concentrations in a restored prairie. Applied Soil Ecology, 36(2), pp.238-242.
Cleveland, C.C., Reed, S.C. and Townsend, A.R., 2006. Nutrient regulation of organic matter decomposition in a tropical rain forest. Ecology, 87(2), pp.492-503.
Bowker, M.A., Reed, S.C., Belnap, J. and Phillips, S.L., 2002. Temporal variation in community composition, pigmentation, and Fv/Fm of desert cyanobacterial soil crusts. Microbial Ecology, 43(1), pp.13-25.
Reed, S.C., Capitosti, G.J., Zhu, Z. and Modarelli, D.A., 2001. Photochemical generation and matrix-isolation detection of dimethylvinylidene. The Journal of Organic Chemistry, 66(1), pp.287-299.
Reed, S.C. and Modarelli, D.A., 1996. Conformational effects on the excited state 1, 2-hydrogen migration in alkyldiazomethanes. Tetrahedron Letters, 37(40), pp.7209-7212.