Daniela Cusack
dcusack@nature.berkeley.edu
Personal webpage,
CV
I am interested in global change and the interactions of ecosystem carbon and nitrogen cycles. I am
doing my dissertation research on the effects of nitrogen deposition on carbon and nitrogen cycling in tropical forests.
I am currently working in Puerto Rico on long-term nitrogen deposition plots
established by Bill McDowell from the University of New Hampshire. My main focus is the response of soil carbon storage and
turnover to chronic nitrogen ammendments. Another project of mine is investigating how elevated nitrogen affects
biological nitrogen fixation in the soil, forest floor, and forest canopies. I
finished my Master's in Environmental Science at the Yale
School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. My Master's project with
Dr. Florencia Montagnini was studying the regeneration of native forest
species on tropical plantations. In Costa Rica, plantations have been
used as a reforestation method, and I investigated the success of
different timber species at recruiting understory regeneration in
Sarapiquí, Costa Rica. Previously, I was on a Fulbright Scholarship in
Costa Rica from 1999-2000, studying the political and ecological impacts
of ecotourism. I graduated with a B.A in Latin American Studies from
Wesleyan University, CT in 1999. My honors thesis at Wesleyan was on
agricultural extension and the success of microfinance projects in
Southern Chile.
Publications:
Chacón, N., W. Silver, E. Dubinsky and D. Cusack, in press.
Iron Reduction and Phosphorous Solubilization in Humid Tropical Forest Soils:
The Roles of Labile Carbon Pools and an Electron Shuttle Compound.
Biogeochemistry.
Cusack, D., and L. Dixon, 2006. Community-Based Ecotourism and
Sustainability: Cases in Bocas del Toro Province, Panama and Talamanca,
Costa Rica. Journal of Sustainable Forestry, 22(1/2):157.
pp. 157-163 pp. 164-173 pp. 174-182
Montagnini, F., D. Cusack, B. Petit, and M. Kanninen, 2005.
Environmental Services of Native Tree Plantations and Agroforestry
Systems in Central America. Journal of Sustainable Forestry 21(1): 51-67.
Cusack, D.F., and F. Montagnini, 2004.
The Role of Native Species
Plantations in Recovery of Understory Woody Diversity in Degraded
Pasturelands of Costa Rica. Forest Ecology and Management 188:1-15.
Back to
top
Braulio Quintero
Braulio is a technician with the Silver lab at the Luquillo LTER in Puerto Rico. Braulio was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico,
and quickly moved out of the city to the quaint little town of Mayagüez on the western side of the island. In Mayagüez he forged
his interest of the natural sciences on the backyard of his house. As a kid surrounded by big Cecropia trees, Palms, lizards and
tree frogs (Coqui). He obtained a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Biology from the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez. His graduate
research was done on forest regeneration on abandoned farmlands of western Puerto Rico. He highly interested in ecology, especially how
anthropogenic activities as farming and urbanization affect tropical ecosystems. His other main interest is mushroom biology. He enjoys
surfing, biking and as of lately rock climbing.
Someday he will ascend Mt. Everest, if it’s the last thing he does.
Back to
top
Dan Liptzin
liptzin@nature.berkeley.edu
Dan is a post doc with the Silver lab working on iron cycling in tropical soils with high redox potential.
Back to
top
Becca Ryals
bryals@nature.berkeley.edu
I joined the Silver lab as a graduate student in 2006. I am interested
in the effects of climate change and land-use management on
biogeochemical processes as well as climate change policy.
Currently, I am working on a project examining the effects of
long-term nitrogen additions on soil trace gas effluxes across
California biomes. I graduated from Duke University with a Masters
in Environmental Management with a focus in ecosystem management
and climate policy. For my Master’s project, I investigated the
potential for carbon sequestration in deep soils in at the Duke
Free Air CO_2 Enrichment experiment, under the advisement of Dr. Rob Jackson. As an undergraduate, I conducted research on phytoremediation of methyl tertiary-butyl ether, a persistent groundwater pollutant from gasoline, with Dr. Deborah Hokien at Marywood University, where I earned a B.S. in Environmental Science.
Back to
top
Yit Arn Teh
yit@nature.berkeley.edu
I am a postdoc in the Silver Group working in collaboration with Whendee, Prof. Dennis Baldocchi (University of California, Berkeley) and Dr. Mark Conrad (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) studying methane, carbon dioxide, and nitrous oxide fluxes in the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta area. My research explores the role of soil microorganisms, redox dynamics, hydrology, and anthropogenic activity in regulating the flux of trace gases between the terrestrial biosphere and atmosphere. I am especially interested in greenhouse gases and stratospheric ozone-depleting substances as we have an incomplete understanding of the biogeochemistry of these compounds and their global cycles. My research focuses on poorly characterized ecosystems or those underrepresented in global atmospheric budgets. For example, my research on methane biogeochemistry explores upland wet tropical forests and northern Arctic ecosystems, where large uncertainties exist about the magnitude and factors regulating methane flux between the land surface and atmosphere. I also study naturally-occurring, halogenated hydrocarbons active in stratospheric ozone loss, including the methyl halides and chloroform. Large discrepancies in the global budgets of methyl halides indicate that there is a significant “missing source” emanating from the terrestrial biosphere. My research seeks to identify this missing source and characterize the controls on methyl halide cycling.
Publications:
Teh, Y.A. , Silver, W.L., Conrad, M.E. 2005. "Oxygen effects on methane
production and oxidation in humid tropical forest soils."
Global Change Biology, 11,
1283-1297, doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2005.00983.
Teh, Y. A., and Silver, W.L. 2006. "Effects of soil structure destruction on
methane production and carbon partitioning between methanogenic pathways in tropical
rain forest soils."
Journal of Geophysical Research, 111, G01003, 1-8,
doi:10.1029/2005JG000020.
Teh, Y. A., Silver, W.L., Conrad, M.E., Borglin, S.E., and Carlson, C.M. 2006.
"Carbon isotope fractionation by methane-oxidizing bacteria in tropical rain forest soils."
Journal of Geophysical Research, 111, G02001, 1-8, doi:10.1029/2005JG000053.
Rhew, R. C.,
Teh, Y.A., and Abel, T. (2007) "Methyl halide and methane fluxes
in the northern Alaskan coastal tundra."
Journal of Geophysical Research, 112,
G02009, 1-11, doi:10.1029/2006JG000314.
Teh, Y.A., Dubinsky, E.A., Silver, W.L., and Carlson, C.M. 2007. "Suppression of methanogenesis by dissimilatory Fe(III)-reducing bacteria in tropical rain forest soils: implications for ecosystem methane flux."
In review.
Teh, Y.A., Rhew, R.C., Atwood, A.R., and Abel, T. 2007. "Water, temperature, and vegetation regulation of methyl chloride and methyl bromide fluxes from a shortgrass steppe ecosystem."
In review .
Teh, Y.A., Mazeas, O., Rhew, R.C., Von Fisher, J.C., Atwood, A.R., and Abel, T. 2007. "Hydrologic regulation of methyl chloride, methyl bromide, and methane fluxes in Alaskan Arctic tundra."
In preparation.
Teh, Y.A., Silver, W.L., and Scatena, F.N. 2007. "A decade of ecosystem reorganization following multiple hurricanes in a cleared wet tropical forest."
In preparation.
Back to
top
Katherine Smetak
katemsmetak@berkeley.edu
Katherine is working at our Sierra Foothills site (SFREC) on rainfall
increases in annual grasslands and decreased water inputs to spring-fed
wetlands. She completed her master's at the University of
Idaho in 2006 with Dr. Jodi Johnson-Maynard, on the impact
of urbanization on nitrogen cycling and earthworm ecology.
Andy Thompson
awt@nature.berkeley.edu
Andy has managed the Silver Lab and coordinated Whendee's research
since 1998. He graduated with a BA in Chemistry from Wesleyan University
in 1992, then worked for Institute of Ecosystem Studies from 1992 -
1997 before coming to UC Berkeley. His research interests involve the
interaction of weather and climate with plant communities, soil nitrogen
cycling, and anything that increases the speed, precision, or
user-friendliness of analytical procedures. Other interests include
characterization of fermentative microbial community behavior through
sensory analysis, as well as modeling the causative factors of dynamic
friction between crystalline water and plastic/steel/wood/wax in the
Sierra Nevada mountains of California.
Back to
top
Carlos Torrens
ctorrens01@fs.fed.us
Carlos is a Biological Science Technician with the International Institute of
Tropical Forestry (USDA Forest Service) in Puerto Rico. He started working with Whendee in 1989
on her dissertation research in the Luquillo Experiment Forest.
He helped establish the long
term transect study in 1994, and has been doing climate monitoring and litter collection
on the project since then.
The goal of the project is to understand climate impacts on forest productivity and biogeochemical
cycling along an elevational gradient. Carlos has also worked on Whendee's oxygen project,
and is currently contributing to the Luquillo LTER Canopy Trimming project.
Back to
top
Samantha Weintraub
sweino@nature.berkeley.edu
I am interested in the biogeochemical cycling of nutrients, the
organisms involved, and the implications for ecosystem processes.
I seek to explore the interactions among soil, plants, microbes,
and climate, and the flows of energy and materials between the
atmosphere and terrestrial ecosystems.
I graduated from the University of California, Berkeley
with a B.S. in Conservation and Resources Studies.
I conducted various types of ecologically-oriented research as
an undergraduate, including work on agroecology and sustainable
farming practices with Dr. Miguel Altieri and in southern Brazil
(where I lived for 6 months). I also conducted a Senior Honor’s
Thesis in the soil microbial ecology laboratory of Dr.
Mary Firestone, where I examined nitrification processes in
California grassland soils. I am currently a research technician
in Dr. Whendee Silver’s ecosystem ecology laboratory. I am working
with Ph D candidate Daniela Cusack on a project in the Luquillo
Experimental Forest in Puerto Rico.
We are looking at the effects of inorganic nitrogen
deposition on carbon cycling in humid tropical forests.
My future plans include earning a phD in ecology and applying
my in-depth knowledge of ecosystem processes to sustainable
management of the Earth’s diverse natural resources.
Jonathan Wright
jonathanmichaelwright@gmail.com
Jonathan is an undergraduate student at Berkeley working on a B.S. in environmental sciences.
Jonathan is currently writing his senior thesis with the Silver lab.
He is working in Puerto Rico with Daniela Cusack on long-term
nitrogen deposition plots established by
Bill McDowell from the University of New Hampshire.
His thesis will focus on the effects of nitrogen deposition
on soil-atmosphere effluxes of methane and nitrous oxide.
Jonathan's experiences in the Silver Lab should help him figure out
what he he'd like to do after graduating in May. Though the possibilities are endless, applying to PhD programs in a related field is a distinct possibility.
Tana Wood
Back to
top
Wendy Yang
wendy_yang@berkeley.edu
CV
I am a Ph.D. student with broad interests in carbon and nitrogen cycling,
global climate change and land-use change. My dissertation research will address nitrogen
deposition effects on nitrous oxide and dinitrogen emissions from denitrification in humid
tropical forest soils (in Puerto Rico). I am also collaborating with Dr. Bibit Traut, a
post-doc in the Silver lab, to investigate the importance of denitrification in removing
nitrogen from salt marshes in Pt. Reyes, CA that receive high nitrogen inputs from
agricultural runoff. Before starting graduate school, I spent one year in the Silver lab
as a technician working with Wendy Chou in the Sierra foothills. As an undergraduate,
I conducted research at Harvard Forest with Dr. Steven Wofsy and wrote my honors thesis on
the contribution of coarse woody debris respiration to the carbon budget of a northern
hardwood forest. I graduated from Harvard
in 2003 with a B.A. in Environmental Science and Public Policy.
Liu, W.H., D.M. Bryant, L.R. Hutyra, S.R. Saleska, E. Hammond Pyle, D.C. Curran, and S.C.
Wofsy, 2006.
Woody debris contribution to the carbon
budgets of selectively-logged and maturing mid-latitude forests.
Oecologia 148:108-117.
Sack, L., P. Melcher, W.H. Liu, E. Middleton, T. Pardee, and N.M.
Holbrook, 2006.
How strong is intra-canopy leaf
plasticity in temperate deciduous trees?
American Journal of Botany 93:829-839.
Back to
top
© 2004-2005 UC Regents
Last modified
Home ::
People ::
Courses ::
Research ::
Links ::
Publications ::
Whendee's Page