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 Reed, Ph.D.
Dr. Sasha Reed is a research ecologist focused on understanding how our nation's ecosystems work and what factors affect 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
With her research and outreach activities, 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 our ecosystems, how they 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 range of energy options for meeting national demand, assessing the consequences of exotic plant invasion and ways to combat them, and establishing original management options for increased effectiveness and efficiency in restoration. Sasha attempts to conduct research that is innovative, collaborative, and useful.
Some of Sasha's current projects are:
Managing for healthy riparian zones: Improving our understanding of tamarisk invasion and biocontrol
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
Awardee, Ecological Society of American (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.
Awardee, 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.
Recipient, Star Award, received for outstanding work with the Department of the Interior. October 2010, May 2000.
Recipient, 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.
Fellow, USGS Student Career Experience Program (SCEP). 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.
Recipient, 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.
Selected Participant, 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.
Recipient, Lawrence Award, awarded to one student annually for superior performance in organic chemistry. April 1996.
Selected Member, Phi Ea Sigma University Honor Society, chosen for academic excellence. April 1994-May 1997.
Selected Board Member, Phi Eta Sigma Aid Committee, elected for superior research to a board that selected student grant applications for funding. September 1995-May 1997.
Nominee, Barry Goldwater Award, nationally nominated by Colgate University for academic distinction. November 1994.
PUBLICATIONS (for a most current list, please see Sasha's google scholar page).
*=USGS technician authors, ¢=student author, ¥=post-doc author
2018
Grossiord, C, A Gessler, SC Reed, I Borrego, AD Collins, LT Dickman, M Ryan, L Schönbeck, S Sevanto, A Vilagrosa, NG McDowell (2018). Reductions in tree performance during hotter droughts are mitigated by shifts in nitrogen cycling. Plant, Cell & Environment.
¥Tucker, C, ¥D Yan, ¥M Dannenberg, SC Reed, W Smith. Science at the frontier: multimethod research to evaluate ecosystem change across multiple scales. New Phytologist 218: 118-1320.
¥Wertin, TM, ¢K Young, SC Reed (2018) Spatially explicit patterns in a dryland's soil respiration and relationships with climate, whole plant photosynthesis, and soil fertility. Oikos.
*Torres-Cruz, T, *A Howell, *R Reibold, T McHugh, ¢M Eikoff, SC Reed, (In Press) Species-specific nitrogenase activity in lichen-dominated biological soil crusts from the Colorado Plateau, USA. Plant and Soil.
¢Mau, AC, SC Reed, TE Wood, M Cavaleri (2018) Temperate and tropical forest canopies are already functioning beyond their thermal thresholds for photosynthesis. Forests 9: 47.
Munson, SM, SC Reed, J Penuelas, NG McDowell, OE Sala (2018) Ecosystem thresholds, tipping points, and critical transitions. New Phytologist 218: 1315-1317.
Kimball, BA, AM Alonso-Rodriguez, MA Cavaleri, SC Reed, G Gonzalez, TE Wood (2018) Infrared heater system for warming tropical forest understory plants and soils. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 8: 1932-1944.
¥Tucker, CL, ¥S Ferrenberg, SC Reed, (2018) Climatic Sensitivity of Dryland Soil CO2 Fluxes Differs Dramatically with Biological Soil Crust Successional State. Ecosystems.
¥Ferrenberg, S, AM Faist, *A Howell, SC Reed, (2018) Biocrusts enhance soil fertility and Bromus tectorum growth, and interact with warming to influence germination. Plant and Soil. 429: 77-90. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-017-3525-1
¥Feng, X, M Uriarte, G Gonzalez, SC Reed, J Thompson, JK Zimmerman, L Murphy (2018) Improving predictions of tropical forest response to climate change through integration of field studies and ecosystem modeling. Global Change Biology 24: 213-232.
2017
¥Ferrenberg, S, SC Reed (2017) Biocrust ecology: unifying micro- and macro-scales to confront global change. New Phytologist 216: 643-646.
Clark, D, ¥S Asao, R Fisher, SC Reed, PB Reich, MG Ryan, TE Wood, X Yang (2017) Field data to benchmark the carbon-cycle models for tropical forests. Biogeosciences 14: 4663.
¥Tucker, CL, ¥TA McHugh, *A Howell, R Gill, B Weber, J Belnap, E Grote, SC Reed (2017) The concurrent use of novel soil surface microclimate measurements to evaluate CO2 pulses in biocrusted interspaces in a cool desert ecosystem. Biogeochemistry 135: 239-249.
¢Schwabedissen, SG, KA Lohse, SC Reed, KA Aho, TS Magnuson (2017) Nitrogenase activity by biological soil crusts in cold sagebrush steppe ecosystems. Biogeochemistry 134: 57-76.
¢Whitney, KM, ER Vivoni, MC Duniway, JB Bradford, SC Reed, J Belnap (2017) Ecohydrological role of biological soil crusts across a gradient in levels of development. Ecohydrology 10: e1875.
Lu, XT, SC Reed, SL Hou, YY Hu, HW Wei, FM Lu, Q Cui, XG Han (2017) Temporal variability of foliar nutrients: responses to nitrogen deposition and prescribed fire in a temperate steppe. Biogeochemistry 133: 295-305.
Jenni KE, MB Goldhaber, JL Betancourt, JS Baron, RS Bristol, M Cantrill, PE Exter, MJ Focazio, JW Haines, LE Hay, L Hsu, VF Labson, KD Lafferty, KA Ludwig, PC Milly, TL Morelli, SA Morman, NT Nassar, TR Newman, AC Ostroff, JS Read, SC Reed, CD Shapiro, RA Smith, WE Sanford, TL Sohl, EG Stets, AJ Terando, DE Tillitt, MA Tischler, PL Toccalino, DJ Wald, MP Waldrop, A Wein, JF Weltzin, CE Zimmerman (2017) Grand Challenges for Integrated USGS Science – A workshop Reprot. USGS Open File Report.
Antoninka, A, MA Bowker, *P Chuckran, NN Barger, SC Reed, J Belnap (2017) Maximizing establishment and survivorship of field-collected and greenhouse-cultivated biocrusts in a semi-cold desert. Plant and Soil 1-13.
¢Chung, YA, RL Sinsabaugh, CK Kuske, SC Reed, JA Rudgers (2017). Spatial variation in edaphic characteristics is a stronger control than nitrogen inputs in regulating soil microbial effects on a desert grass. Journal of Arid Environments 142: 59-65.
*Rutherford, WA, TH Painter, ¥S Ferrenberg, J Belnap, GS Okin, *C Flagg, SC Reed (2017). Albedo feedbacks to future climate via climate change impacts on dryland biocrusts. Scientific Reports 7.
Steven, B, TA McHugh, SC Reed (2017). The response of arid soils to climate change. In: (Ed: Steven, B) Life in Extreme Environments: The Biology of Arid Soils.
¥Ferrenberg, S, ¥C Tucker, SC Reed (2017). Biological soil crusts: diminutive communities of potential global importance. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 15: 160-167.
¥McHugh, T, EM Morrissey, ¥R Mueller, L Gallegos-Graves, C Kuske, SC Reed (2017). Bacterial, fungal, and plant communities exhibit no biomass or compositional response to two years of simulated nitrogen deposition in a semiarid grassland. Environmental Microbiology 19: 1600-1611.
*Young, K, SC Reed (2017) Spectrally monitoring the response of biocrust moss Syntrichia caninervis to altered precipitation regimes. Scientific Reports 7.
Reed, SC (2017). Disentangling the complexities of how legumes and their symbionts regulate plant nitrogen access and storage. New Phytologist 213: 478-480.
¥Wertin, TM, J Belnap, SC Reed (2017). Experimental warming in a dryland community reduced plant photosynthesis and soil CO2 efflux although the relationship between the fluxes remained unchanged. Functional Ecology 2: 297-305.
2016
Reed, SC, TE Wood (2016). Soil phosphorus cycling in tropical soils: an Ultisol and Oxisol perspective. In: Lal, R., B.A. Stewart. Soil Phosphorus. Advances in Soil Science. Taylor and Francis Books.
¥Sherry, RA, PB Shafroth, J Belnap, S Ostoja, SC Reed (2016). Germination and growth of native and invasive plants on soil associated with biological control of tamarisk (Tamarix spp.). Invasive Plant Science and Management 9: 290-307.
¥Tucker CL, SC Reed (2016). Low soil moisture during hot periods drives apparent negative temperature sensitivity of soil respiration in a dryland ecosystem: a multi-model comparison. Biogeochemistry 128: 155-169.
¥Stocker, BD, IC Prentice, SE Cornell, T Davies-Barnard, AC Finzi, O Franklin, I Janssens, T Larmola, S Manzoni, T Nasholm, JA Raven, KT Rebel, SC Reed, S Vicca A Wiltshire, S Zaehle (2016). Terrestrial nitrogen cycling in Earth system models revisited." New Phytologist 210: 1165-1168.
Reed, SC, FT Maestre, R Ochoa-Hueso, CR Kuske, ¥A Darrouzet-Nardi, M Oliver, B Darby, LG Sancho, RL Sinsabaugh, J Belnap (2016) Biocrusts in the Context of Global Change. In: Belnap, J, B Webber, B Budel. Biological Soil Crusts: Structure, Function, and Management.
Metcalf, JL, ZZ Xu, S Weiss, S Lax, W Van Treuren, ER Hyde, SJ Song, A Amir, P Larsen, N Sangwan, D Haarmann, GC Humphrey, G Ackermann, LR Thompson, C Lauber, A Bibat, C Nicholas, MJ Gebert, JF Petrosino, SC Reed, JA Gilbert, AM Lynne, SR Bucheli, DO Carter, R Knight. (2016). Microbial community assembly and metabolic function during mammalian corpse decomposition. Science 351: 158-162.
Lü, XT, SC Reed, Q Yu, XG Han (2016) Nutrient resorption helps drive intra-specific coupling of foliar nitrogen and phosphorus under nutrient-enriched conditions. Plant and Soil: 1-10: doi:10. 1007/ s11104-015-2642-y.
¥Smith, WK, SC Reed, CC Cleveland, AP Ballantyne, WRL Anderegg, WR Wieder, YY Liu, SW Running. (2016). Large divergence of satellite and Earth system model estimates of global terrestrial CO2 fertilization. Nature Climate Change doi:10.1038/nclimate2879.
¥Antoninka, A, MA Bowker, SC Reed, ¢K Doherty. (2016). Production of greenhouse-grown biocrust mosses and associated cyanobacteria to rehabilitate dryland soil function. Restoration Ecology. DOI: 10.1111/rec.12311.
2015
¥Darrouzet-Nardi, A, SC Reed, EE Grote, J Belnap. (2015). Observations of net soil exchange of CO2 in a dryland show experimental warming increases carbon losses in biocrust soils. Biogeochemistry 126: 363-378.
¥Steven, B, CR Kuske, SC Reed, J Belnap (2015) Climate change and physical disturbance result in distinct biological soil crust communities. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 81: 7448-7459.
Reed, SC, X Yang, PE Thornton (2015) Incorporating phosphorus cycling in global modeling efforts: a worthwhile, tractable endeavor. New Phytologist. 208: 324-329.
¥Ferrenberg, S, SC Reed, J, Belnap (2015) Climate change and physical disturbance cause similar community shifts in biological soil crusts. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 112: 12116-12121.
Cavaleri, MA, SC Reed, ¥WK Smith, TE Wood (2015) Urgent need for warming experiments in tropical forests. Global Change Biology. 21: 2111-2121.
¥Wertin, T, SC Reed, J Belnap (2015). C3 and C4 plant responses to increased temperatures and altered monsoonal precipitation in a cool desert on the Colorado Plateau, USA. Oecologia 177: 997-1013.
¥McHugh, T, EM Morrissey, SC Reed, BA Hungate, E Schwartz (2015) Water from air: an overlooked source of moisture in arid and semiarid regions. Scientific Reports 5: 13767.
2014
Hiltbrünner, E, R Aerts, T Bühlmann, K Huss-Danell, B Magnusson, DD Myrold, SC Reed, BD Sigurdsson, C Körner (2014) Ecological consequences of the expansion of N2-fixing plants into cold biomes. Oecologia 176: 11-24.
¥Sullivan, BW, ¥S Alvarez-Clare, ¢SC Castle, S Porder, SC Reed, ¥L Schreeg, AR Townsend, CC Cleveland (2014) Assessing nutrient limitation in complex forested ecosystems: alternatives to large-scale fertilization experiments. Ecology 95: 668-681.
Cleveland, CC, SC Reed, ¢AB Keller, DR Nemergut, ¢SP O’Neill, R Ostertag, PM Vitousek (2014) Litter quality versus soil microbial community controls over decomposition: a quantitative analysis. Oecologia 110:12733-12737.
¥Sullivan, BW, ¥WK Smith, AR Townsend, ¢MK Nasto, SC Reed, RL Chazdon, CC Cleveland (2014) Spatially robust estimates of biological nitrogen fixation imply substantial human alteration of the tropical nitrogen cycle. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences doi:10.1073/pnas.1320646111.
¥Smith, WK, CC Cleveland, SC Reed, SW Running (2014) Agricultural conversion without external water and nutrient inputs reduces terrestrial vegetation productivity. Geophysical Research Letters 10.1002/2013GL058857.
2013
Cleveland, CC, BZ Houlton, WK Smith, ¢AR Marklein, SC Reed, SJ Del Grosso, SW Running (2013) Patterns of new versus recycled primary production in the terrestrial biosphere. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 110:12733-12737.
Reed, SC, AR Townsend, CC Cleveland (2013) Relationships between phosphorus, molybdenum and free-living nitrogen fixation in tropical rain forests: Results from observational and experimental analyses. Biogeochemistry: Synthesis & Emerging Ideas Section 114:1-13.
Vitousek, PM, DNL Menge, SC Reed, CC Cleveland (2013) Biological nitrogen fixation: rates, patterns, and ecological controls in terrestrial ecosystems. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. 368: 20130119.
Lu, X-T, SC Reed, Q Yu, NP He, ZW Wang, XG Han (2013) Convergent responses of nitrogen and phosphorus resorption to nitrogen inputs in a semi-arid grassland. Global Change Biology 19:2775-2784.
¢Keville, MP, SC Reed, CC Cleveland (2013) Nitrogen cycling responses to mountain pine beetle disturbance in a high elevation Whitebark Pine ecosystem. PLoS One 8: e65004. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0065004.
¥Zelikova, TJ, R Hufbauer, SC Reed, ¥T Wertin, C Fetting, J Belnap. (2013) Eco-evolutionary responses of Bromus tectorum to climate change: Implications for biological invasions. Ecology & Evolution 3:1374-1387.
¢Keller, AB, SC Reed, AR Townsend, CC Cleveland (2013) Effects of canopy tree species on belowground biogeochemistry in a lowland wet tropical forest. Soil Biology & Biochemistry 58: 61-69.
2012
¥Wickings, K, AS Grandy, SC Reed, CC Cleveland (2012) The origin of litter chemical complexity during decomposition. Ecology Letters 15: 1180-1188.
Reed, SC, AR Townsend, CC Cleveland, EA Davidson (2012). Stoichiometric patterns in foliar nutrient resorption across multiple scales. New Phytologist 196: 173-180.
Reed, SC, ¢KK Coe, JP Sparks, DC Housman, ¥TJ Zelikova, J Belnap (2012) Changes to dryland rainfall results in rapid moss mortality and altered fertility in a dryland ecosystem. Nature Climate Change 2:752-755.
Wood, TE, MA Cavaleri, SC Reed (2012) Tropical forest carbon balance in a warmer world: a critical review spanning microbial- to ecosystem-scale processes. Biological Reviews 87: 912-927.
Reed, SC, T Wood, M Cavaleri (2012) Tropical forests in a warming world. New Phytologist 193: 27-29.
¥Wertin, TM, SL Phillips, SC Reed, J Belnap (2012) Elevated CO2 did not mitigate the effect of a short-term drought on biological soil crusts. Biology & Fertility of Soils 48: 797-805.
¢Smith, WK, CC Cleveland, SC Reed, NL Miller, SW Running (2012) Bioenergy potential of the United States constrained by satellite observations and existing productivity. Environmental Science & Technology 46: 3536-3544.
2011
Reed, SC, CC Cleveland, AR Townsend (2011). Functional ecology of free-living nitrogen fixation: a contemporary review. Annual Review for Ecology and Systematics 42: 489-512.
Reed, SC, PM Vitousek, CC Cleveland (2011) Are patterns in nutrient limitation belowground consistent with those aboveground: Results from a 4 million year chronosequence. Biogeochemistry 106: 323-336.
Cleveland, CC, AR Townsend, P Taylor, MMC Bustamante, G Chuyong, P Grierson, K Harms, B Houlton, A Marklein, W Parton, S Porder, SC Reed, et al. (2011) Relationships among net primary productivity, nutrients and climate in tropical rain forests: A pan-tropical analysis. Ecology Letters 14: 939-947.
Schmidt SK, CC Cleveland, DR Nemergut, SC Reed, AJ King, P Sowell (2011) Estimating phosphorus availability for microbial growth in an emerging landscape. Geoderma 163: 135-140.
Wickings, K, AS Grandy, SC Reed, CC Cleveland (2011) Management intensity alters decomposition via biological pathways. Biogeochemistry 104: 365-379.
Reed, SC, AR Townsend, PG Taylor, CC Cleveland. (2011) Phosphorus Cycling in Tropical Forests Growing on Highly-Weathered Soils. In: (Buneman EK, A Oberson, E Forssard) Phosphorus In Action—Biological Processes in Soil Phosphorus Cycling. Springer Publishing Co. vol. 26, pp. 339-369.
2010
Cleveland, CC, WR Wieder, SC Reed, AR Townsend (2010) Experimental drought in a wet tropical forest increases soil carbon dioxide losses to the atmosphere. Ecology 91: 2313-2323.
Reed, SC, CC Cleveland, DR Nemergut, SK Schmidt & AR Townsend (2010) Scaling from molecules to ecosystems: Exploring controls over free-living nitrogen fixation in terrestrial systems. VDM Publishers, Saarbrücken Germany.
Reed, SC, AR Townsend, CC Cleveland, DR Nemergut (2010) Microbial community shifts influence patterns in tropical forest nitrogen fixation. Oecologia 164: 521-531.
Cleveland, CC, BZ Houlton, C Neill, SC Reed, AR Townsend, YP Wang (2010) Using indirect methods to constrain symbiotic nitrogen fixation rates: A case study from an Amazonian rain forest. Biogeochemistry 99: 1-13.
2009
Sattin SR, CC Cleveland, E Hood, SC Reed, AJ King, MS Robeson, NL Ascarrunz, DR Nemergut (2009) Functional shifts in perhumid, recently-deglaciated soils do not correlate with shifts in soil bacterial community composition. The Journal of Microbiology 47: 673-681.
Costello, EK, SRP Halloy, SC Reed, P Sowell, SK Schmidt (2009) Fumarole-supported islands of biodiversity within a hyper-arid, high-elevation landscape on Socompa Volcano, Puna de Atacama, Andes. Applied & Environmental Microbiology 75: 735-747.
Freeman, KR, MY Pescador, SC Reed, EK Costello, MS Robeson, SK Schmidt (2009) Soil CO2 flux and photoautotrophic community composition in high-elevation, ‘barren’ soil. Environmental Microbiology 11: 674-686.
2008
Schmidt, SK, SC Reed, DR Nemergut, AS Grandy, CC Cleveland, MN Weintraub, AW Hill, EK Costello, AF Meyer, AM Martin, JC Neff (2008) The earliest stages of primary succession in high-elevation (5000 meters above sea-level), recently deglaciated soils. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 275: 2793-2802.
Reed, SC, CC Cleveland, AR Townsend (2008) Tree species control rates of free-living nitrogen fixation in a tropical rain forest. Ecology 89: 2924-2934.
2007
Reed, SC, CC Cleveland, AR Townsend (2007) Controls over leaf litter and soil nitrogen fixation in two lowland tropical rain forests. Biotropica 39: 585-592.
Schmidt, SK, EK Costello, DR Nemergut, CC Cleveland, SC Reed, MN Weintraub, AF Meyer, AM Martin (2007) Microbial turnover and seasonal succession drive biogeochemical cycles in the alpine. Ecology 88: 1379-1385.
Reed, SC, TR Seastedt, CM Mann, KN Suding, AR Townsend (2007) Phosphorus fertilization stimulates nitrogen fixation and increases inorganic nitrogen concentrations in a restored prairie. Applied Soil Ecology 36: 238-242.
2006
Cleveland, CC, SC Reed, AR Townsend (2006) Nutrient regulation of organic matter decomposition in a tropical rain forest. Ecology 87: 492-503.
2002
Bowker, MA, SC Reed, J Belnap, SL Phillips (2002) Temporal variation in community composition, pigmentation, and Fv/Fm in desert cyanobacterial soil crusts. Microbial Ecology 43: 13-25.
2001
Reed, SC, GJ Capitosti, Z Zhu & DA Modarelli (2001) Photochemical generation and matrix-isolation detection of dimethylvinylidene. Journal of Organic Chemistry 66: 287-291.
1996
Reed, SC, DA Modarelli (1996) Conformational effects on the excited state 1,2-hydrogen migration in alkyldiazomethanes. Tetrahedron Letters 37: 7209-7212.
Science and Products
Date published: September 16, 2018
Status: Active Long-Term Vegetation Change on the Colorado Plateau
Drylands comprise ~35% of Earth’s terrestrial biomes, with over 1 billion people depending on these landscapes for their livelihoods. In the U.S., drylands comprise ~40% of the landmass and 83% of Department of Interior (DOI)-managed lands (excluding Alaska). Due to their vast extent nationally and globally, changes to these landscapes have the potential to affect global climate regulation. A...
Contacts: Jayne Belnap, Mike Duniway, Ph.D., Sasha 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 Reed, Ph.D.
Attribution: John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis
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
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 Reed, Ph.D.
Attribution: 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 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 cyano...
Contacts: Sasha Reed, Ph.D.
Attribution: John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis
Date published: October 22, 2013
Status: Active Integrating modeling and empirical approaches to improve predictions of tropical forest responses to global warming
Tropical forests contain > 50% of the world’s known species (Heywood 1995), 55% of global forest biomass (Pan et al. 2011), and exchange more carbon (C), water and energy with the atmosphere than any other ecosystem type (e.g., Saugier et al. 2001). Despite their importance, there is more uncertainty associated with predictions of how tropical forests will respond to warming than for any...
Contacts: Sasha Reed, Ph.D.
Attribution: John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis
Year Published: 2018
Grasslands
Key findings:Total grassland carbon stocks in the conterminous United States, estimated to be about 7.4 petagrams of carbon (Pg C) in 2005, are projected to increase to about 8.2 Pg C by 2050. Although U.S. grasslands are expected to remain carbon sinks over this period, the uptake rate is projected to decline by about half. In the U.S. Great...
Cavallaro, Nancy; Shrestha, Gyami; Birdsey, Richard; Mayes, Melanie A.; Najjar, Raymond G.; Reed, Sasha C.; Romero-Lankao, Patricia; Zhu, Zhiliang; Pendall, Elise; Bachelet, Dominique; Conant, Richard T.; El Masri, Bassil; Flanagan, Lawrence B.; Knapp, Alan K.; Liu, Jinxun; Liu, Shuguang; Schaeffer, Sean M.Attribution: Western Geographic Science Center
Year Published: 2018
Agriculture
Agricultural production is a fundamental activity conducted on 45% of the U.S. land area, 55% of Mexico’s land area, and 7% of Canada’s land area (World Bank 2016). Because of this vast spatial extent and the strong role that land management plays in how agricultural ecosystems function, agricultural lands and activities represent a large portion...
Cavallaro, Nancy; Shrestha, Gyami; Birdsey, Richard; Mayes, Melanie A.; Najjar, Raymond G.; Reed, Sasha C.; Romero-Lankao, Patricia; Zhu, Zhiliang; Hristov, Alexander N.; Johnson, Jane M. F.; Rice, Charles W.; Brown, Molly E.; Conant, Richard T.; Del Grosso, Stephen J.; Gurwick, Noel P.; Rotz, C. Alan; Sainju, Upendra M.; Skinner, R. Howard; West, Tristram O.; Runkle, Benjamin R. K.; Janzen, Henry; Reed, Sasha C.; Cavallaro, Nancy; Shrestha, GyamiAttribution: Southwest Biological Science Center
Year Published: 2018
Executive summary. In Second State of the Carbon Cycle Report (SOCCR2): A Sustained Assessment Report
Central to life on Earth, carbon is essential to the molecular makeup of all living things and plays a key role in regulating global climate. To understand carbon’s role in these processes, researchers measure and evaluate carbon stocks and fluxes. A stock is the quantity of carbon contained in a pool or reservoir in the Earth system (e.g., carbon...
Cavallaro, Nancy; Shrestha, Gyami; Birdsey, Richard; Mayes, Melanie A.; Najjar, Raymond G.; Reed, Sasha C.; Romero-Lankao, Patricia; Zhu, Zhiliang; Birdsey, Richard; Mayes, Melanie A.; Romero-Lankao, Patricia; Najjar, Raymond G.; Reed, Sasha C.; Cavallaro, Nancy; Shrestha, Gyami; Hayes, Daniel J.; Lorenzoni, Laura; Marsh, Anne; Tedesco, Kathy; Wirth, Tom; Zhu, ZhiliangAttribution: Southwest Biological Science Center
Year Published: 2018
Using research networks to create the comprehensive datasets needed to assess nutrient availability as a key determinant of terrestrial carbon cycling
A wide range of research shows that nutrient availability strongly influences terrestrial carbon (C) cycling and shapes ecosystem responses to environmental changes and hence terrestrial feedbacks to climate. Nonetheless, our understanding of nutrient controls remains far from complete and poorly quantified, at least partly due to a lack of...
Vicca, Sara; Stocker, Benjamin; Reed, Sasha C.; Wieder, William R.; Bahn, Michael; Fay, Philip A.; Janssens, Ivan; Lambers, Hans; Penuelas, Josep; Piao, Shilong; Rebel, Karin; Sardans, Jordi; Sigurdsson, Bjarni D.; Van Sundert, Kevin; Wang, Ying-Ping; Zaehle, Sonke; Ciais, PhilippeAttribution: Southwest Biological Science Center
Year Published: 2018
Reductions in tree performance during hotter droughts are mitigated by shifts in nitrogen cycling
Climate warming should result in hotter droughts of unprecedented severity in this century. Such droughts have been linked with massive tree mortality, and data suggest that warming interacts with drought to aggravate plant performance. Yet how forests will respond to hotter droughts remains unclear, as does the suite of mechanisms trees use to...
Grossiord, Charlotte; Gessler, Arthur; Reed, Sasha C.; Borrego, Isaac; Collins, Adam D.; Dickman, Lee T.; Ryan, Max; Schönbeck, Leonie; Sevanto, Sanna; Vilagroso, Alberto; McDowell, Nate G.Attribution: Southwest Biological Science Center
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Grossiord, C., Gessler, A., Reed, S.C., Borrego, I., Collins, A.D., Dickman, L.T., Ryan, M., Schönbeck, L., Sevanto, S., Vilagrosa, A., and McDowell, N.G., 2018, Reductions in tree performance during hotter droughts are mitigated by shifts in nitrogen cycling: Plant, Cell & Environment, online, https://doi.org/10.1111/pce.13389.
Year Published: 2018
Biocrusts enhance soil fertility and Bromus tectorum growth, and interact with warming to influence germination
Background and aimsBiocrusts are communities of cyanobacteria, mosses, and/or lichens found in drylands worldwide. Biocrusts are proposed to enhance soil fertility and productivity, but simultaneously act as a barrier to the invasive grass, Bromus tectorum, in western North America. Both biocrusts and B. tectorum are sensitive to climate change...
Ferrenberg, Scott; Faist, Akasha M.; Howell, Armin J.; Reed, Sasha C.Attribution: Southwest Biological Science Center
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Ferrenberg, S., Faist, A.M., Howell, A., and Reed, S.C., 2018, Biocrusts enhance soil fertility and Bromus tectorum growth, and interact with warming to influence germination: Plant and Soil, v. 429, no. 1-2, p. 77-90, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11104-017-3525-1.
Year Published: 2018
Spatially explicit patterns in a dryland's soil respiration and relationships with climate, whole plant photosynthesis and soil fertility
Arid and semiarid ecosystems play a significant role in regulating global carbon cycling, yet our understanding of the controls over the dominant pathways of dryland CO2exchange remains poor. Substantial amounts of dryland soil are not covered by vascular plants and this patchiness in cover has important implications for spatial patterns and...
Wertin, Timothy M.; Young, Kristina E.; Reed, Sasha C.Attribution: Southwest Biological Science Center
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Wertin, T.M., Young, K., and Reed, S.C., 2018, Spatially explicit patterns in a dryland's soil respiration and relationships with climate, whole plant photosynthesis and soil fertility: Oikos, v. 127, no. 9, p. 1280-1290, https://doi.org/10.1111/oik.04935.
Year Published: 2018
Species-specific nitrogenase activity in lichen-dominated biological soil crusts from the Colorado Plateau, USA
Background and aimBiological soil crusts (biocrusts) play numerous crucial roles in drylands, which comprise over 40% of Earth’s terrestrial surface. Among these key contributions is the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen. Yet, relatively little is known about the N2 fixation capabilities of different lichen species that are found in late...
Torres-Cruz, Terry J.; Howell, Armin J.; Reibold, Robin H.; McHugh, Theresa A.; Eickhoff, Mackenzie A.; Reed, Sasha C.Attribution: Southwest Biological Science Center
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Torres-Cruz, T.J., Howell, A.J., Reibold, R.H., McHugh, T.A., Eickhoff, M.A., and Reed, S.C., 2018, Species-specific nitrogenase activity in lichen-dominated biological soil crusts from the Colorado Plateau, USA: Plant and Soil, v. 429, no. 1-2, p. 113-125, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-018-3580-2.
Year Published: 2018
Biocrusts: The living skin of the Earth
Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) form a “living skin” at the soil surface in many low productivity ecosystems around the world including water- and cold-limited environments, and early successional seres (Belnap et al. 2003). They may be composed of any configuration of soil surface-dwelling cyanobacteria, eukaryotic algae, lichens, mosses or...
Bowker, Matthew A.; Reed, Sasha C.; Maestre, Fernando T.; Eldridge, David J.Attribution: Southwest Biological Science Center
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Bowker, M.A., Reed, S.C., Maestre, F.T., and Eldridge, D.J., 2018, Biocrusts--The living skin of the Earth: Plant and Soil, v. 429, no. 1-2, p. 1-7, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11104-018-3735-1.
Year Published: 2018
Beyond traditional ecological restoration on the Colorado Plateau
The Colorado Plateau is one of North America's five major deserts, encompassing 340,000 km2 of the western U.S., and offering many opportunities for restoration relevant to researchers and land managers in drylands around the globe. The Colorado Plateau is comprised of vast tracts of public land managed by local, state, and federal agencies...
Winkler, Daniel E.; Backer, Dana M.; Belnap, Jayne; Bradford, John B.; Butterfield, Bradley J.; Copeland, Stella M.; Duniway, Michael C.; Faist, Akasha M.; Fick, Stephen E.; Jensen, Scott L.; Kramer, Andrea T.; Mann, Rebecca; Massatti, Robert; McCormick, Molly L.; Munson, Seth M.; Olwell, Peggy; Parr, Steve D.; Pfennigwerth, Alix; Pilmanis, Adrienne M.; Richardson, Bryce A.; Samuel, Ella; See, Kathy; Young, Kristina E.; Reed, Sasha C.Attribution: Southwest Biological Science Center
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Winkler, D.E., Backer, D.M., Belnap, J., Bradford, J.B., Butterfield, B.J., Copeland, S.M., Duniway, M.C., Faist, A.M., Fick, S.E., Jensen, S.L., Kramer, A.T., Mann, R., Massatti, R.T., McCormick, M.L., Munson, S.M., Olwell, P., Parr, S.D., Pfennigwerth, A.A., Pilmanis, A.M., Richardson, B.A., Samuel, E., See, K., Young, K.E., and Reed, S.C., 2018, Beyond traditional ecological restoration on the Colorado Plateau: Restoration Ecology, online, https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.12876.
Year Published: 2018
Patterns of longer-term climate change effects on CO2 efflux from biocrusted soils differ from those observed in the short term
Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) are predicted to be sensitive to the increased temperature and altered precipitation associated with climate change. We assessed the effects of these factors on soil carbon dioxide (CO2) balance in biocrusted soils using a sequence of manipulations over a 9-year period. We warmed biocrusted soils by 2 and, later...
Darrouzet-Nardi, Anthony; Reed, Sasha C.; Grote, Edmund E.; Belnap, JayneAttribution: Southwest Biological Science Center
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Darrouzet-Nardi, A., Reed, S.C., Grote, E.E., and Belnap, J., 2018, Patterns of longer-term climate change effects on CO2 efflux from biocrusted soils differ from those observed in the short term: Biogeosciences, v. 15, p. 4561-4573, https://10.5194/bg-15-4561-2018.
Year Published: 2018
Climatic sensitivity of dryland soil CO2 fluxes differs dramatically with biological soil crust successional state
Arid and semiarid ecosystems make up approximately 41% of Earth’s terrestrial surface and are suggested to regulate the trend and interannual variability of the global terrestrial carbon (C) sink. Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) are common dryland soil surface communities of bryophytes, lichens, and/or cyanobacteria that bind the soil surface...
Tucker, Colin; Ferrenberg, Scott; Reed, Sasha C.Attribution: Southwest Biological Science Center
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Tucker, C.L., Ferrenberg, S., and Reed, S.C., 2018, Climatic sensitivity of dryland soil co2 fluxes differs dramatically with biological soil crust successional state: Ecosystems, v. (online), https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10021-018-0250-4.
Pre-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.