Publications

Symbiotic nitrogen fixation (SNF) represents the largest natural input of bioavailable nitrogen into the biosphere, impacting key processes spanning from local community dynamics to global patterns of nutrient limitation and primary productivity. While...

Root carbon (C) exudation plays a central role in nutrient acquisition, microbially mediated organic matter decomposition and many other critical ecosystem processes. While it is well known that roots respond strongly to belowground resources, we have a...

Biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) is the main natural source of new nitrogen inputs in terrestrial ecosystems, supporting terrestrial productivity, carbon uptake, and other Earth system processes. We assembled a comprehensive global dataset of field...

Abstract Due to their mutualistic partnership with trees, mycorrhizal fungi are often important components of soil microbial communities. Mortality of tree hosts can have dramatic effects on mycorrhizal populations, but how these shifts impact the...

ABSTRACT The ability of trees to acquire soil nutrients under future climate conditions will influence forest composition and function in a warmer world. Rarely are multiple belowground carbon allocation pathways measured simultaneously in large global...

Root exudation, the export of low-molecular weight organic carbon (C) from living plant roots to soil, influences microbial activity, nutrient availability, and ecosystem feedbacks to climate change, but the magnitude of this C flux at ecosystem and...

Abstract Each year, an average of 45 tropical cyclones affect coastal areas and potentially impact forests. The proportion of the most intense cyclones has increased over the past four decades and is predicted to continue to do so. Yet, it remains...

"Phosphorus (P) limits productivity in many ecosystems and has the potential to constrain the global carbon sink. The magnitude of these effects depends on how climate change and rising CO2 affect P cycling. Some effects are well established. First, P...

The amount and composition of root exudates—low-molecular-weight carbon compounds released from living plant roots into soil—are expected to shift under global change, and a growing body of work indicates that root exudates have important impacts on...

Summary Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration ([CO2]) is increasing, which increases leaf-scale photosynthesis and intrinsic water-use efficiency. These direct responses have the potential to increase plant growth, vegetation biomass, and soil organic...

Summary The ability to fix nitrogen may confer a competitive advantage or disadvantage to symbiotic nitrogen-fixing plants depending on the availability of soil nitrogen and energy to fuel fixation. Understanding these costs and benefits of nitrogen...